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SIXTY YEARS 

OF 

THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



SIXTY YEARS 

OF THE 

Union Boat Club 

BY 

THE CLUB HISTORIAN 




A LIST OF MEMBERS 

AND 

THE MORE IMPORTANT RACES OF THE CLUB 
FROM 1851 TO 1911 

COMPILED BY 

THE SECRETARY 



BOSTON 
PRINTED FOR THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



^ 



Copyright, 1913 
By the Union Boat Club 



LC Control Numb* 




tmp96 026213 

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



■CI.A350132 



it 1 



PREFACE 

THIS historical sketch of the Union Boat Club of 
Boston was completed in the summer of 1911, 
sixty years after the foundation of the Club. The His- 
torian got his material from the accounts of the founder, 
Daniel Webster Rogers, for the first ten years of the 
Club; of Mr. L. S. King, for the years from 1865 to 
1870 ; and of Mr. W. S. Eaton, for the years from 
1874 to 1884; from various documents of the Club — 
log-books and secretaries' records ; and from anecdotes 
related by various members. Because of the multi- 
plicity of sources and vagueness at times of expression 
or recollection, there are probably some errors in dates 
and other figures, but the Historian has zealously tried 
to have them all accurate. 

The list of members and the list of races in which 
the Club has taken part have been prepared by the 
Secretary, Mr. Arthur Drinkwater, who has otherwise 
helped the publication of this book by all means in his 
power. The First Lieutenant, Dr. G. S. Derby, has 
been kind enough to read the manuscript to see that 
the Historian made no errors in boating nomenclature. 
Mr. W. S. Eaton has lent photographs for some of the 
illustrations, and he and Mr. W. H. Carpenter have 
been ready to give freely of their time in advising 



vi PREFACE 

the Historian. Former secretaries, especially Mr. B. P. 
Ellis (who made the first efforts to get material for a 
Club history together) and Mr. R. P. Blake, and many 
other members of the Boat Club have likewise given 
their help in preparing this history. 

Howard Maynadier. 

Wilmington, Delaware, 
December, 1911. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

I. The Beginning 1 

II. Early Growth 15 

III. Some Old Club Customs ...... 53 

IV. The War 67 

V. Transformation 73 

VI. The Even Tenor 108 

VII. New Waters 179 

Appendix A. The First Constitution of the Club 

and the Fifth 237 

" B. The Union Boat Club Association 253 

" C. Members of the Club . ... 265 

I. Former Officers .... 265 

II. Past Members .... 272 

III. Present Members . . . 294 

" D. List of Races .307 

E. The Log 326 

F. The Navy 328 



a 



Index 329 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Charles River Basin from Harvard Bridge . Frontispiece 

Braman's Bath- House, Front View . . Facing page 6 

Plan of Braman's Baths (i " 6 

Braman's Bath-House, from the Water . " " 8 

Union Boat Club Oarsmen, 1857 .. . " " 44 

The Beacon Cup " " 51 

Early Prizes " " 52 

The First House of the Union Boat Club " " 72 

The House of 1870 « "104 

Union Boat Club and Backs of Brimmer 

Street Houses " " 106 

Last Row from the House of 1870 . . " " 128 

Union Boat Club on a Regatta Day . . " "140 

The Barge Union " " 164 

The Union in Mystic Pond " " 164 

Up the Mystic River . " « 1 66 

Luncheon " " 166 

First Row from the New Boat House . . " " 232 

Present House of the Union Boat Club . " ' " 234 



SIXTY YEARS 

OF 

THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



THE BEGINNING 

rilHE Union Boat Club, like so many other good 
**• things of this world, gave in the beginning little 
promise of its future importance. It came mod- 
estly into existence in the spring of 1851, when Mr. 
Daniel Webster Rogers and a few other gentlemen 
interested in rowing on the Charles River conceived 
the idea that they might increase their enjoyment 
of the sport by forming a club. Mr. Rogers, ac- 
cordingly, prepared and circulated a paper with 
the simple statement on it: 

' We, whose names are hereto annexed, for 
the purpose of mutual benefit and enjoyment, 
enter into the following agreement for the for- 
mation of a boat club. 

6 First, that we will pay our respective shares 
of a sum necessary for the purchase of a boat. 

6 Second, that in regard to other matters re- 
lating to said club we will individually act as a 
majority shall determine.' 

After enough signatures had been affixed to war- 
rant purchasing a boat, Mr. Rogers called the 

1 



2 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

signers of the paper to meet one evening late in May 
in Braman's Bath Building. An organisation was 
then effected and a constitution drawn up, the first 
article of which declared that the new club should 
6 be denominated the Union Boat Club.' There were 
to be three officers — a Treasurer, who was also the 
President, a Secretary, and a Coxswain. The last was 
not merely to steer what the first constitution called 
' the Boat ' of the Club — that is, the whole navy 
— but to have entire charge of it ; in fact, to exercise 
virtually the authority at a later day vested in the 
Captain. These officers were duly elected. The con- 
stitution also provided for a business meeting of 
the Club every Wednesday, and somewhat vaguely 
for the payment of dues and the use of * the Boat ' 
in the evening. That was all there was of the first 
constitution, with the adoption of which, on the 
twenty-sixth day of May, 1851 — a day memorable 
in the annals of American rowing — the Union Boat 
Club was born. 1 

The name of the Club has some historical interest. 
According to Mr. Rogers, who wrote a sketch of its 
first ten years, its sponsors in baptism gave the 
young organisation the name Union, because they 
were mostly members of the Whig party and ardent 
admirers of Daniel Webster (in fact Mr. Rogers had 
been named for him) ; and Webster in his public 
utterances had unswervingly advocated the principle 
of federal union in opposition to all suggestions of 
1 For the first constitution, see Appendix A. 



THE BEGINNING 3 

nullification or secession. As far back as the War of 
1812, much as Webster, like most other New Eng- 
enders, deprecated that war, he made clear that he 
had no sympathy with the separatist feeling of the 
Hartford Convention. Almost twenty years later 
in his reply to Hayne, he expressed similar senti- 
ments in that defence of the Union which most of 
us have to read at school. His great speech on The 
Constitution and the Union, in March, 1850, was the 
logical culmination of his doctrine. Opposed heart 
and soul to slavery, Webster yet saw that since it 
was recognised by the Federal Constitution, it must 
be upheld by law. Only by mutual compromise could 
the Union be preserved. And so in the famous 
' Seventh of March ' speech in the Senate, he be- 
came the advocate of the compromise measures which 
Henry Clay had proposed. Opinions have differed 
widely as to the wisdom and right of Webster's course, 
and historians are still far from agreeing about it. 
Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, in his Daniel Webster in the 
series of American Statesmen, condemns it severely. 
Others, among them the late John Fiske and Mr. 
C. K. Adams, are inclined to think that only the 
passing of these compromise measures postponed the 
Civil War till the North was in a relatively stronger 
position than in 1850, and so likelier to succeed in 
preserving the Union. Be that as it may, it was 
the crisis in our history, when the great question of 
union or disunion was still unsettled, that led the 
founders of the new Boat Club to name it for that 



4 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

national union which seemed to them in peril but 
which they prized so highly. And ten years later, 
when even the compromise of 1850 failed to avert 
war, the men of the new Club showed themselves 
worthy of their name. A third of them were among 
the volunteers to defend the Union. 

By 1861, however, not a large proportion of the 
charter members of the Club still belonged to it; 
nor, alas ! did all those who had left it leave for good 
reason. That stern, impartial, and sharp-sighted 
goddess, Truth, compels the Historian to record that 
not all members had the loyal devotion to the Club 
which characterised Mr. Rogers. Of twelve x charter 
members, no less than three took their obligations so 
lightly that they were dishonorably discharged for 
non-payment of dues when the Club had seen only 
three months of existence. They seem to have al- 
lowed themselves to become liable to expulsion volun- 
tarily. Perhaps they were irritated at the strict 
rules and regulations of the Club which had been 
voted at the instance of its founder, who was always 
a stickler for discipline. 2 However that may be, one 
of the three discharged members was the President, 
who had previously been asked to resign his office 
because, having appointed himself to take care of 
the Club room, he 6 failed to perform his duties,' 3 and 

1 See Appendix A. 

2 'Remarks were made by Messrs. Rogers, Ireland, Kimball, and 
others on the necessity of having more discipline in the Club.' July 
16, 1851. 

3 Records for August 13, 1851. 



THE BEGINNING 5 

also because he failed so often to attend the weekly 
meetings. No doubt their unnecessary frequency 
bored him. Another, by the irony of fate, was a 
gentleman commended in the Secretary's report of the 
first meeting as * particularly happy in what he had 
to say,' to the effect that members should be 
' prompt and energetic in the payment of their dues, 
as on that, in a great measure, depends the vitality 
of the Union.' And this but three short months 
before his expulsion for non-payment! After all, it 
is not only femina who can be varium et mutabile. 
But let us turn this page of Club history. 

The first quarters of the Union Boat Club were in 
Braman's Bath Building, where its organisation had 
been effected. There the Club hired and duly fur- 
nished one room. ' Braman's Baths,' as the estab- 
lishment was known in Boston, was a famous bath- 
house and boat-house, near the southwest corner of 
the present Brimmer Street and Chestnut Street. 
The main building rested on piles and extended for 
some distance over the water, which came up to what 
is now Brimmer Street. Between the piles was space 
enough for the passage of boats, which could be 
hoisted to their berths under the floor of the bath- 
house by slings attached to a windlass. From 
Braman's main building, where the Boat Club had 
its room, you passed by a bridge to his floating 
swimming-bath. Between the two structures were 
rafts, on either side of the bridge, for the accom- 
modation of oarsmen; and down stream, towards 



6 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the Cambridge Bridge, were anchored small pleasure 
craft of every description. What with sail-boats, 
row-boats, and swimmers, Braman's Baths must have 
been a scene of considerable animation, especially 
when high tide and a full summer moon came to- 
gether. The considerable expanse of salt water 
would seem in the moonlight even larger than 
it really was; and from twilight till midnight 
immediately round the bath-house, it was alive 
with boatmen and bathers. For Braman's in the 
fifties, when the Charles was still a clear and clean 
tide-river, was the favorite place in Boston for 
salt-water bathing; and Bostonians in those days, 
if we may trust contemporary accounts, were 
fonder than we are now, of taking their swims in 
the evening. 

Even in the disillusioning light of day, as you 
looked from Braman's Baths over the Charles River 
at flood tide, you saw a far more spacious sheet of 
water than the ' Basin ' of the present. There was 
no Harvard Bridge to break the sweep of the salt 
bay, which seemed to stretch off to the foot of the 
Brookline hills. On the right, the high tide flowed 
over the Cambridge marshes to the tracks of the 
present Grand Junction Railway. On the left, you 
would not see a similar expanse of water, for there 
was the ' Mill-Dam,' running a straight line from 
Boston to Brookline, with a roadway on it which is 
now Beacon Street; but over the mill-dam you saw 
only sky, and far off the hills of Roxbury. Beacon 




BRAMAN'S BATH-HOUSE, FRONT VIEW 




PLAN OF BRAMAN'S BATHS 
A Sketch from Memory 



THE BEGINNING 7 

Street proper with its houses terminated near the 
present Brimmer Street. West of that, there was 
scarcely a building save the gate-house about a mile 
up stream, which controlled the flow of water of the 
Back Bay, the grist mills run by this water, and 
near them on the mill-dam, the inn known as ' Wat- 
kins',' from the name of its landlord — a house be- 
loved of oarsmen for its nut-brown ale. Though 
the mill-dam prevented anyone at Braman's from 
seeing the Back Bay itself and the marshes beyond, 
you would know, if you were an oarsman, that an 
hour before high water you could pass the flood 
gates of the old dam (where at present is the out- 
flow from the Fens) and row westerly through the 
marshes up Muddy River to the Brookline road, now 
Brookline Avenue, or southerly to the mouth of 
Stony Brook in Roxbury and the uplands at the 
foot of Parker Hill. 

The members of the youthful Club, whose aquatic 
powers thus no pent-up Basin contained, were far 
from distinguished oarsmen. At least Mr. Rogers 
says that when the room in Braman's Baths was 
made ready, ' certain days were appointed for . . . 
practice on the river. No object other than that 
of making passable oarsmen and the enjoyment of 
rowing excursions was contemplated. Chance might 
eventually open the way for the attainment of a 
higher order of watermanship, but the acquirement 
of rudimentary knowledge would occupy one season 
at least, and to that accomplishment all energy was 



8 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

to be directed.' 1 That the energy at first was ex- 
treme is apparent from the vote of June 4th that 
there should be practice in rowing 6 Friday morning, 
at five o'clock, of each week.' The wonder is that 
with this exaggerated energy not more than three 
members were frightened out of the Club. As might 
be expected, the zeal for the morning row did not 
last. By August 20th the Club was ready to vote 
unanimously a change of rowing hours to Monday 
and Friday evenings. 

Nor was the equipment of the Club calculated to 
promote distinguished watermanship rapidly. Its 
4 first boat . . . was a heavily built ship's gig,' 
named, like several Club boats that were to follow, 
Union. 6 She pulled four oars, and sat quite deep in 
the water : so deep in fact that unless going with the 
tide slow progress could be made. Excursions were 
consequently planned with due regard for the cur- 
rent. To row against it was an offence of a grave 
nature: an experiment not calculated to preserve a 
proper respect for the coxswain. From the boathouse 
to where is now located Longwood Bridge was looked 
upon as a respectable pull, and to cover the dis- 
tance without halt was a marvellous matter — some- 
thing to be proud of in point of endurance, pro- 
vided, as before mentioned, the tide was made to 
serve.' 2 

Sallying forth in this heavy gig, the men of the 

1 Mr. Rogers's sketch of the early years of the Union Boat Club, 
p. 2. 2 Rogers, p. 3. 



THE BEGINNING 9 

Boat Club, however unskilled, got at least one pleas- 
ure unknown to club oarsmen to-day. In the fifties, 
when much that is now noisy or smoky city was still 
fresh country, the neighborhood of Boston offered 
unrivalled facilities for camping out, which was ac- 
cordingly a favorite diversion. And so the first- 
year members of the Boat Club enjoyed many de- 
lightful hours under the canvas, sometimes on the 
river banks, again on the islands in the harbor. Thus, 
with camping, and with conscientious if clumsy prac- 
tice in rowing, they passed the summer of 1851. All 
too soon cold weather came, and the good days out- 
doors of the first season of the Union Boat Club were 
ended. But however much fun and health this sum- 
mer gave the members of the Club, to us to-day its 
first year does not seem remarkable, except for two 
events — one, that very important event in the life 
of any organisation, the beginning; the other, the 
only bitter dissension among its members that the 
Club has known. 

What the color of the gig, Union, was in the first 
season is not recorded, but for the second, the Club 
voted that she should be ' painted black outside, with 
red stripe, and deep green inside, and that a com- 
mittee of three be appointed to carry it into effect.' 
This vote was passed at a meeting on January 12th 
at the Lexington House in Lexington, whither the 
Club, ' having resolved on a sleigh-ride,' had 6 pro- 
ceeded ... in one of Fullum's best teams ' ; and 
where, ' after amusing themselves by rolling ten- 



10 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

pins, and having discussed a substantial supper,' l 
they had been called to order by the President to 
transact necessary business. Perhaps they would 
have voted more conservatively as to colors, had they 
met in town without ' discussing a substantial sup- 
per ' beforehand. Further business at the meeting 
was the consideration of a Club uniform, a unanimous 
vote ' to set apart the 12th of January of each year 
to be celebrated by a sleigh-ride, supper, etc.' (though 
there was no provision for always having snow), and 
a vote of thanks to the landlord of the Lexington 
House for his ' substantial entertainment.' 

The second season of the Club was less eventful 
than its first. The routine of work was substantially 
what it had been the previous year; despite efforts 
to get a quicker boat, the same old heavy gig, now, 
as we have seen, gaudily painted, was still the only 
one used; candidates for admission did not present 
themselves; the treasury was low; in fact, it was 
difficult to keep the young Club alive. And this in 
spite of invitations to ladies to participate in moon- 
light excursions, and of many other inducements to 
create interest in the Boat Club. 

The truth was that watermanship was still bad, 
as we may see from an incident related by Mr. 
Rogers. The members of the Club, having invited 
various ' fair guests ' and also some of the ' sterner 
sex ' for a moonlight row, in order to do justice to 
the occasion had their gay, four-oared gig ' painted 
1 Records, 1852. 



THE BEGINNING 11 

anew and adorned with a gold streak. That the full 
majesty of a six-oar might be attained, additional 
thwarts and row-locks were also attached. Carefully 
put away for the purpose of hardening paint and 
putty, the fact that a shrinkage of the boat's planks 
and an opening of the seams would naturally occur 
had not been allowed for. Meanwhile, invitations had 
been extended to lady and gentleman friends, and the 
proud moment had come for the Unions to display 
their ability as boatmen. But here the old adage 
touching the " nicest schemes of mice and men " re- 
ceived another verification; for scarcely had the 
crew launched their craft, assisted their precious 
freight aboard, and taken their thwarts to await the 
coxswain's orders when the water appeared above the 
bottom boards. So rapidly did it rise that unusual 
activity was demanded to save all hands from a duck- 
ing. The rescue was effected, however, but not until 
the boat had sunk nearly to the gunwales, where she 
was left until salt water should render her tight 
again.' 1 

But the gallant tars of the Boat Club were not 
to be disheartened. ' Ere another moon had waned 
a seaworthy Union six awaited their fair guests that 
floated like a swan, and was made to " walk the 
waters like a thing of life." At least the crew 
thought so.' 2 

At this time, when a boat club in America was still 
a novelty, the navy set the fashion for amateur oars- 
1 Rogers, pp. 4 and 5. 2 Rogers, pp. 5 and 6. 



12 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

manship. As we have seen, the one boat of the 
Club was a gig, similar in build to the lapstreaks of 
a later day. Oars were pulled, as in the navy, di- 
rectly from the gunwales. Also, as in the navy, 
much was made of discipline and etiquette. ' In em- 
barking about five orders preceded the final one to 
" give way." In meeting another rowing crew eti- 
quette demanded coming to a dead halt and then 
tendering a salute by " tossing oars," oars too that 
were made of heavy hard wood and of tremendous 
weight.' 1 

For years, also, the Club tried to be as scrupulous 
as the navy in the matter of uniform, which was 
a subject of great moment. There was much talk 
about the minutiae of it, as to whether hats or caps 
should be worn, and white shirts or blue. Even as 
late as the seventies, the Club records show that 
such questions were thought of grave importance. 

Discipline, in the early days, had likewise some- 
thing of naval strictness ; and that and the weight 
of the heavy sweeps must have proved trying to both 
body and temper, for once, at least, in 1852, they 
resulted in mutiny and a court-martial. ' A midship 
oar during practice becoming somewhat careless in 
his work was requested by the coxswain to feather 
properly — to " turn his oar." The novice of some 
two hours' exercise, in which he had strained every 
sinew in his body in endeavoring to get command 
of his sweep, and forgetting for the moment his duty 
1 Rogers, pp. 6 and 7. 



THE BEGINNING 13 

as a " man-of-war's man," suddenly stopped rowing, 
and with much amazement, accompanied by the dis- 
play of a terribly lacerated thumb, crustily ordered 
the coxswain to " come and turn the oar himself." ' x 

This infraction of discipline was too much. On 
the return of the crew to the boat-house, a court- 
martial was at once held. With mock seriousness it 
was decided that maritime law applied to the Union 
Boat Club, for the Charles River Basin was an arm 
of the sea ; and therefore, since the midship oar's re- 
ply to the coxswain had been made on salt water, he 
was judged ' guilty of mutiny on the high seas.' 

Despite the humor which was intended in this, 
the mutinous oar took it seriously. So far as is 
known he never rowed in a Club boat again. And 
three other members, it would seem either through 
sympathy or through fear of being similarly dis- 
ciplined, soon after left the Club, which thus had not 
members enough to man the gig. Here again is one 
of the several hints in the records that early mem- 
bers were too fond of discipline, and that they en- 
forced it with undue seriousness. 

Yet this second year saw some progress. Not 
content with one room in Braman's Baths, the Club 
hired a floating boat-house of its own, apparently 
close by. It voted that its uniform should consist 
6 of white duck trousers, a white shirt with blue 
trimmings, and a sailor chip hat, upon the band of 
which was emblazoned in golden letters the word 

1 Rogers, pp. 6 and 7. 



14 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

" Union." ' 1 Furthermore, in the little band of faith- 
ful members left after the four withdrawals, Club 
spirit grew strong. Coming together in the boat- 
house as often as possible during the autumn, they 
* insisted that success was a duty, sang the Canadian 
Boat Song to cheer their spirits, and resolved with 
Jacksonian vigor that the " Union must and shall be 
preserved." ' 2 

1 Rogers, p. 4. 2 Rogers, p. 7. 



II 

EARLY GROWTH 

rilHEIR plucky devotion was rewarded the next 
-■• year, 1853, in which the Club first attained that 
distinction in rowing which it has kept ever since. 
This was made possible by the admission of several 
desirable new members — enough to justify the Club 
in establishing itself in the larger quarters of a 
rowing association just disbanding, that had occu- 
pied and comfortably fitted up a part of the lower 
story in the bath building. Thus the Club had a 
pleasant room for social meetings and ample space 
for storage. Besides, it bought from the disbanding 
association a four-oared boat, the Wave, which seems 
to have been fairly fast. 1 

Among the new members were two especially ener- 
getic and experienced young oarsmen, Alfred Whit- 
man, Jr., and William Dudley Woodbridge Allan. 
The former was a native of Nova Scotia, the latter 
of St. John, New Brunswick ; and so both came from 
a region more interested in rowing than any in the 
United States. Thanks to Allan, the Club purchased 
another four-oar of light build, of the latest and best 

1 Rogers, p. 8. 
15 



16 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

model, which required no coxswain but was steered 
by the bow oar. She was named the Ripple. Thus 
the Club navy (hitherto consisting of a single gig) 
was increased in one summer by the important addi- 
tion of two fast four-oars. 

The wisdom of this increase was proved in a re- 
gatta held at Hull in September. The Ripple, 
manned by Allan, Whitman, H. C. Ahlborn, and 
R. J. Bulger, was first in a race of what the judges 
called ' about seven miles,' which distance she made 
in the good time of thirty-three minutes and fifteen 
seconds. The prize was a silver pitcher. The Wave 
brought further glory to the Club by capturing the 
third * prize, an ornamental tiller-rope. This re- 
gatta at Hull is to be remembered; it marks the 
beginning of the long racing career of the Union 
Boat Club. 

The excitement of the day for Boat Club men did 
not end with the regatta. Enthusiastic over the vic- 
tory in this, their first race, they were soon cele- 
brating it in a room in the Mansion House where 
they had the good fortune to meet ' General ' Wat- 
kins, the genial proprietor of that inn on the mill- 
dam, whose fried eels and brown ale were so loved 
of Charles River boatmen. His greeting now was no 
less cordial than usual, * Boys, you have done nobly ; 
let us have some wine.' And wine they had in the 



1 The Club Book of 1862 calls this the second prize, but both the 
official report of the race and the Secretary's account in the Club 
records give the second prize to a four-oared boat named Star. 



EARLY GROWTH 17 

form of champagne for the ensuing hour till dinner 
was announced. To this meal were invited various 
guests, including the crew of the Wave, which had 
not been manned by members of the Boat Club. There 
followed more champagne and much toasting, and 
then the award of prizes. 

When the time came to go home, the Ripple set 
out for Boston by power of her own oars, but it was 
thought best to have the Wave, along with several 
other boats that had competed in the regatta, towed 
up to town by the harbor steamer Mayflower. The 
surly captain of the steamer allowed no time to attach 
the boats properly; and so the Mayflower had 
hardly got well out into the channel, when the boats 
in tow began to bump one another and, in conse- 
quence of the speed of the steamer and a high sea, 
to take in water. The Wave was in an especially 
bad position, close under the Mayflower's stern, with 
the ten-oared General Sarsfleld that had a longer 
tow-line, pressing hard upon her. Through some 
twist of the boats, the Sarsfleld' 's bows began to bear 
on the side of the Wave, and not only the five Boat 
Club men in her, but also the passengers on board 
the steamer, began to get alarmed. Men shouted ad- 
vice for disentangling the boats and two or three 
women screamed, when a sapient young man stepped 
out from the crowd and cast off the tow-rope of the 
Wave, thinking that she would easily drop astern 
and be safe. But the Sarsfleld, whose bows were now 
pressing the Wave nearly amidships, was immedi- 



18 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

ately drawn over her with a crash, throwing three of 
the Wave's crew and some of her own into the water. 
The other two men of the Wave managed to stay 
by the wreck, though her stern was crushed and she 
was nearly sinking. The Sarsfleld, the only other 
boat damaged, got her bow so badly stove that she 
sank to the level of the water and had to be helped 
ashore by one of the other boats in tow, all of 
which cut loose from the steamer immediately after 
the accident. These and the Ripple, that had turned 
back on seeing the trouble, picked up the men swim- 
ming in the cold water, of whom Bullens of the Boat 
Club all the while kept hold of the tiller-rope which 
the Wave had won as a prize. The damaged boat 
herself was with difficulty rowed to Hull, whence she 
was at a later day transported to Boston on the deck 
of the Mayflower. 

All this made it of course the more imperative 
for the Union men, once they were back in their own 
quarters, to repair in their gig to ' Watkins' ' for 
a second celebration, coupled with a thanksgiving, 
for the accident at one moment had looked dan- 
gerous. At ' Watkins' ' they found the genial old 
* General ' more genial than ever. Not only had he 
loaded his boards for the Boat Club with all the 
good things of the market; but in the centre of the 
table shone the silver pitcher, won that morning by 
the Ripple, and on the wall hung the tiller-rope won 
by the Wave, apparently none the worse for its im- 
mersion in the salt sea. There were more libations 



EARLY GROWTH 19 

now, and also more toasts, as if there had not been 
enough of both at noon, and plenty of songs. In 
that triple ardor of enthusiasm, victory, and cham- 
pagne, it was hard to believe that there was anything 
in the world then, or ever had been, like the Union 
Boat Club. No wonder that two of the original mem- 
bers, as they got into the heavy gig to go back to 
the boat-house, thought with pride of the growth of 
the Club since they had signed the paper promising 
to buy that boat only two years and four months 
before. But it seems to have been enthusiasm alone, 
unaided by champagne, that led the Secretary, in 
recording the Hull regatta three days later, to write 
of the 13th of September as * the day of days,' 
and to allow his pen to wander off into more and 
more florid fervor, till the account culminated in the 
departure of the Boat Club men c for their respective 
residences, satisfied with the results which had at- 
tended them, which would constitute an era not only 
in their own history but in boating in general; and 
could the last thought of each member, ere sweet 
slumber had stolen over him, have been rendered 
audible, it would have rent the air with one simul- 
taneous shout, — " The Union Boat Club for- 
ever! ! !"' 

The formal races at Hull were not the only ones 
in which Union boats engaged that summer. Be- 
sides demonstrating that no four-oar in Boston 
waters was a match for her, the Ripple sometimes 
gave the coxswain of a six ocular evidence that she 



20 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

herself had no coxswain. And once, shortly after her 
victory at Hull, as her crew were resting on their 
sweeps in the sultry September dusk on the Charles, 
a mile or so above the boat-house, there came the 
sound of oars over the glassy water and soon the 
stately passing of the Harvard eight. Immediately 
the four were away after them. Work as the Har- 
vard men would, the crew of the Ripple had their 
boat in slings at the boat-house by the time the eight 
got there, all wonder and curiosity about the stranger 
that had beaten them; for they were not without 
pride in their own craft, the Oneida, in which they 
had won the first race between Harvard and Yale, in 
the previous year. This was their first row after 
the long vacation ; hence their ignorance of the newly 
famous Ripple. But now acquainted with her, the 
college crew admired her so much that they asked 
the Union men to procure a similar boat for Har- 
vard the following year. 1 So they did, getting a boat 
built in St. John, New Brunswick, which was thirty- 
eight feet long and was pulled, like the Ripple, with- 
out coxswain or traveller. She was the first fast 
boat owned by Harvard, and she received the curious 
name of Y—Y. 

6 W'y Y-Y? ' one naturally asks to-day, borrow- 
ing from Esmond that old pun which Thackeray bor- 
rowed probably from somebody before him. The 
answer is that Y-Y was short for Yang- Yang, and 
Yang- Yang itself was the name of a monster that 
1 Rogers, p. 12. 



EARLY GROWTH 21 

carried little children off to his lair in the woods 
and ate them. He was mentioned in a news- 
paper squib, which for some incomprehensible rea- 
son went the rounds of the country in the early 
fifties of the nineteenth century, a sign that people 
are no more foolish now than they were sixty years 
since. 

And so the immediate result of the first brush be- 
tween a Harvard and a Union crew was the acquisi- 
tion of a fast four-oar by Harvard through the 
medium of the Boat Club. What was more impor- 
tant, the event marked the beginning of that good 
intimacy between the University and the Union Boat 
Club which has lasted to the present and happily 
seems likely to last as long as Union and Harvard 
crews float on the Charles. 

An anecdote related by Mr. Rogers is illustrative 
of the spirit of the Club in this first season of good 
accomplishment, as well as of keen enthusiasm, in 
rowing. It seems that ' the favorite practice pull 
was from Long Wharf to a barge anchored near 
one of the islands in Boston harbor. On one occa- 
sion, weather and water favoring, a splendid bit of 
rowing was accomplished. At the conclusion of the 
pull, number three in hastily seizing his watch to 
take the time, brought his oar in contact with it, and 
overboard went the watch. The timekeeper was a 
valuable heirloom, and the crew, realising that it was 
irrecoverable, were almost speechless. Instead of an 
expected wail, however, from the loser, came this re- 



22 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

sponse : " Never mind, boys, we did it in thirteen 
minutes ! " ' x 

Club spirit was further strengthened this year by 
the planting of the * Squam Encampment,' a camp 
on Rust's Island in the Annisquam River, a mid- 
summer perennial that was to flourish lustily for 
about ten years, of which more later. Then too, as 
the rowing season drew to its close, ' gymnasium 
practice received due attention ' from the dozen 
members who now made up the Club. 2 So here was 
the seed which in late years has given as its refresh- 
ing fruits winter hours indoors, with machine exer- 
cise and hand-ball and dressing-room raillery, 
scarcely less happy than golden summer hours afloat 
on basin or harbor, or in a canoe between the 
meadow or woodland banks of a little New England 
river. 

The next year was proof that this season of 1853 
gave the Union Boat Club the distinction which it 
has enjoyed ever since as a rowing organisation. 
For in 1854, largely because of the interest in row- 
ing which the victories of the Ripple had stimulated, 
the city fathers of Boston decided to add a regatta 
to the usual events celebrating the Fourth of July. 
This was the first of the city regattas which subse- 
quently have been held on the Fourth every year 
except one. Management of the race was left en- 

1 Rogers, p. 11. 

2 So says Mr. Rogers in his recollections of early Club days, p. 15. 
The records show no official provision for gymnasium practice in the 
winter till November, 1858. 



EARLY GROWTH 23 

tirely to the Boat Club. As in later years, it offered 
the use of its house to visiting crews, who gladly 
availed themselves of its hospitality. Thus the Club 
became, as it has always been since on public regatta 
days, a semi-civic boat club. Nor has it kept open 
house on days of public regattas only, as those college 
crews can testify that have come from time to time 
to row Harvard on her home waters. Thanks to this 
hospitality and to its convenient situation, the Union 
Boat Club, more than any other single force in the 
rowing world, has helped subsequent regattas on the 
Charles towards success. 

As for the first Fourth of July regatta, it had not 
been advertised long, before the number of entries 
made evident that there was plenty of interest in 
it. And when the Fourth came, the number of spec- 
tators who flocked to all the places on shore that 
would offer a good view, and the number of boats 
lying along the course, showed still more plainly 
that the city had made no mistake in placing a re- 
gatta among the attractions of the day. 

The members of the Club, meantime, who were 
managing the regatta, had little hope of victory 
for any amateurs who might row, for most of the 
entries had been made by stalwart longshoremen. 
In the first race, however — which was for single 
sculls — Coxswain Allan of the Boat Club, in a light 
lapstreak procured and rigged for the occasion and 
named Topsy because of her deep black paint, after 
a good start and plucky pulling, drew away from 



24 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

his competitors one by one, finally even from a 
herculean longshoreman in a Canadian wherry, 
turned the stake in good form, and crossed the line 
victorious. The first City sculling race on the 
Charles had been won by an officer of the Union 
Boat Club. 

In the next race, which was for four-oars, the Club 
was not successful, though it had entered two boats. 
One was the Petrel, a recent addition to the fleet, 
entered merely to make the numbers in the regatta 
larger, for not much was expected of her. But there 
were great expectations of the other Union boat, the 
redoubtable Ripple. She made a start worthy of her 
record, but before a dozen strokes had been pulled, 
a thole-pin broke and she was out of the race. 

Without participating in other public races this 
year, the Union Boat Club, keeping to the purposes 
for which it had been founded and which it has always 
tried to keep to, lent its aid freely in furthering 
amateur rowing. It helped two clubs that had been 
recently formed — the Young America and the 
Triton — procuring a boat from St. John for one, 
and for the other, a boat from Halifax. The two 
new clubs were short-lived and both were finally 
merged in the Union. They are worthy of notice 
here chiefly because they testify to the friendly in- 
terest which the Union Boat Club habitually took in 
such amateur rowing organisations. Besides, with 
the boat from Halifax which the Union procured for 
the Triton Club, there came a set of spoon oars, 



EARLY GROWTH 25 

according to Mr. Rogers the first ever seen on the 
Charles River. 

Now for five years and a half, that is, from 1855 
to the War in 1861, the Club kept on the prospering 
way which, after its first two doubtful, experimental 
years, it marked out for itself in '53. Little by little 
it increased and improved its navy; the enthusiasm 
of its members for boating grew steadily. In these 
years there was * scarcely a bit of water,' says Mr. 
Rogers, ' between Watertown and Hull whose sur- 
face had not been ruffled by the dip of an Union oar.' 
All the while, besides strengthening its friendly rela- 
tions with other boat clubs, and doing what it could 
to stimulate general interest in rowing, it was also 
unconsciously developing its own peculiar customs 
— those which can never be made to order, but which 
growing spontaneously give a club the individuality 
that only will rouse and hold the love of its members. 

And all this despite an event which for the mo- 
ment threatened to kill the new spirit of the Club. 
Coxswain Allan, winner of the first City sculling race 
on the Charles, and for the two years of his mem- 
bership the most energetic and stimulating oarsman 
in the Club, was stricken with a hemorrhage in 
October, 1855. The remedies then known for con- 
sumption were of no avail, and he died in the follow- 
ing January. 1 He was deeply mourned and de- 
servedly, for he had come to the Club in its feeble 
infancy, had served it loyally, had given many proofs 

1 January 27, 1856. 



26 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

of his power as an oarsman, and had won the respect 
and affection of all his fellow members. On the news 
of his death, they passed resolutions testifying to his 
worth and ability; they draped the club-room in 
black; and after Bishop Eastburn had concluded 
the funeral services, members of the Boat Club bore 
Allan's body to the grave. 

Fortunately for the Club, there was one worthy 
to succeed Allan. This was Alfred Whitman, who had 
entered the Club at the same time with Allan, and like 
Allan had been an eager and stimulating oarsman. 
He was elected Coxswain at the first business meet- 
ing of 1856, and retained the position (in the last 
year with the title of Captain) till he was made a 
Director in 1861. 

During the administrations of Allan and Whitman 
as Coxswain, the Club acquired several new boats. 
In '55, to be sure, the additions were only what Mr. 
Rogers calls * some single-scull lapstreaks ' — he 
does not say how many; and the sale of the once 
redoubtable Ripple 1 more than offset this gain. But 
a four-oar, imported from St. John in May, 9 56, 
made up for the Ripple. This new boat had already 

1 No reason for the sale of the former Club favorite is given either 
by Mr. Rogers or in the records. The entry for a meeting on October 
3, 1854, says merely: 'It was voted that the "Ripple" be offered for 
sale for a sum not less than Fifty Dollars with the "proviso" that 
when she passes from the hands of the Union Boat Club her present 
name shall be null, and that she be no longer known as the "Ripple." 
Mr. Allan was appointed ... to negotiate with any parties who 
may wish to purchase.' On March 3, 1855, the Coxswain reported 
that she has been sold to the Young America Boat Club. 



EARLY GROWTH 27 

been victorious at home against Halifax oarsmen, 
and now, christened the Ariadne, she was to prove 
her prowess in New England waters. Still, a six-oar 
was even more desired than the new four, and in the 
autumn of 1856 one was bought. The builder was 
Christopher Coyle of St. John, New Brunswick, who 
had just previously built an eight for Harvard. 
Being the most important boat in the Club fleet, the 
new six very properly received the name of Union 
that had first been borne by the old gig. Though the 
Union won a notable victory for the Club in the 
summer of 1857, she was sold, only three years later, 
to a Portland club for $150. 

It is said that the origin of six-oars in Boston 
waters was the result of chance. Before the Union 
boatmen acquired their first six, two four-oar crews 
from the Provinces came to Boston to race. One was 
from Halifax, the other from St. John, and each had 
defeated the other on home waters. The rivalry 
between them was so keen that they agreed to row 
the tie on waters that were neutral. In the excite- 
ment before the race both crews bet all the money 
they had. Then they went on to bet their clothes, 
even to the shirts on their backs. The Halifax crew 
lost. Clearly when they had paid their bets, each 
man of them would be as penniless and naked as on 
the day he was born. There was nothing to do but 
sell their boat, which they did at a good price. The 
St. John crew, no longer needing their boat since 
they had beaten their rivals, and being also thrifty 



28 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

men, decided to do likewise. There were then left in 
Boston two fours of both longer and stronger build, 
because of the rougher waters of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick, than the boats used hereabouts. 
The new owners saw that each boat could perfectly 
well carry a crew of six instead of four. Each 
received an additional oar forward and another aft, 
and thus became a six, a mongrel kind of boat, that 
could be used also as a four with perfect convenience. 

Mr. W. H. Carpenter, who came into the Club in 
'59, recalls another occasion on which a Canadian 
crew surprised local oarsmen. It was a twelve-mile 
race in the Basin — that is, four times over the 
three-mile course — in which the Provincial four, 
Superior, beat the four, Maid of Erin, manned by 
Fort Hill men. The Superior had so-called ' double 
banks,' stout wooden supports for the oars built 
beyond the gunwales, corresponding to outriggers 
of to-day; and the peculiarity of her banks was 
that each had two sets of row-locks or thole-pins, 
whichever she was provided with. The reason was 
apparent every time the boat turned the stake. 
Then the inside men, instead of stopping rowing or 
backing water, threw their oars over to the outside 
of the boat, and all four pulling on the starboard 
side at once made the Superior turn the stakes with 
a speed disheartening to the Maid of Erm. 

The year following the purchase of the six-oared 
Union saw one of greater importance for the Club — 
that of a single-scull shell, the Swordfish — ' the first 



EARLY GROWTH 29 

shell owned and pulled by Boston oarsmen.' 1 She 
was built by James McKay, an English builder estab- 
lished in New York. He had become known in Bos- 
ton in the previous September, that is, in '56, when 
a New York crew had come to race a St. John crew 
on the Charles, and had brought along a shell of his 
construction. Though the New Yorkers were not 
victorious, their outrigger shell excited so much ad- 
miration that McKay received an order to build one 
like it for the New Brunswick men, and the single 
scull already mentioned for the Union Boat Club. 
He saw the four-oar safely delivered in St. John, 
and while there built the single-scull for the Boat 
Club. Thus began the transition on the Charles 
from lapstreak to shell. 

Nevertheless, two years later, in 1859, the Club 
went back to the older kind of boat in buying two 
new lapstreaks, a double scull and a single, chris- 
tened respectively Acushnet and Zouave. The same 
year, however, John D. Parker, Jr., bought a single 
shell for his private use, which he named L' Aiguille; 
and the Club procured from McKay of New York 
another single-scull shell on purpose for Whitman 
to row in a race in which Joshua Ward, the champion 
sculler of America, was to compete with various local 
scullers. The race did not prove a good advertiser 
for the new shells. For one reason or another, all 
the men who had entered failed to meet Ward except 
4 Tom ' Doyle, of local fame, and Whitman. Since 

1 Rogers, p. 42. 



30 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

each met with an accident in the race, Ward rowing 
in a lapstreak was an easy winner. The members 
of the Boat Club, as Mr. Rogers records — and it 
is not strange — regarded the race as a fiasco. 

Meanwhile, the Ariadne, the four-oar bought in 
'56, had ceased to belong to the Club, oddly enough 
because of her success in a singular race at New 
Bedford in the summer of 1857. That city, it 
seems, had arranged a whaleboat race as part of 
its Fourth of July celebration, and invited the Union 
Boat Club to send a crew. Accordingly, Whitman, 
G. W. Smalley, G. W. Hunkins, and Amos Webster, 
Jr., accompanied by a delegation from the Club of 
half a dozen or so, went down to New Bedford with 
the Ariadne. 

To their amazement they found entered for the 
race no less than thirty whaleboats, manned by 
strong, weather-beaten whalemen, some of whom had 
dipped their oars in every ocean of the world. Since 
New Bedford Harbor was not wide enough for this 
number to start in one line, the boats had to be 
started in two divisions, five minutes apart ; and the 
Ariadne, in her unusual company, was placed in the 
second division. Her crew, directly the signal was 
given, put in such good work that, amateurs though 
they were competing with experienced opponents, 
they rapidly forged away from the second division 
and came in bow and bow with the first. Great was 
the applause and great the good feeling manifested 
by all New Bedford for the visitors, for those were 



EARLY GROWTH 31 

days of truly chivalrous hospitality in sport. And 
so after the race, the Union crew, in the colloquial 
language of the present, * owned the city.' They 
were given into the hands of a committee of enter- 
tainment that put them into carriages and had them 
driven through the streets of New Bedford as part 
of the city's Fourth of July procession. Then after 
receiving the plaudits of the people, the crew — and 
likewise their supporters from the Boat Club — re- 
turned to the Parker House in New Bedford, where 
they had been put up at the expense of the city for 
three whole days. Truly, heroic times, those, and 
heroically wise in worthily spending the city money ! 
As for the men of the Union, 'that they enjoyed 
their princely entertainment,' the Club record 
states, * goes without saying.' But of what they 
ate and what they drank, all at the expense of the 
taxpayers of New Bedford, the chronicle maketh no 
mention. 

The result of all this was the formation of an 
amateur rowing club in New Bedford the next year, 
which was called the Ripple Boat Club. Their 
organisation effected, nothing would satisfy the 
members but the Union's selling them the Ariadne. 
Now the Ariadne was not only a good boat but 
naturally after her prowess at New Bedford also a 
highly prized boat. However, noblesse oblige; the 
new club needed her more than the older. With 
its wonted friendliness for new rowing clubs, the 
Union Boat Club reluctantly consented to the sale. 



32 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

The Ariadne left the Charles to spend the rest of 
her days on New Bedford waters. 

Once more, though, she was to be manned by her 
old owners. In the summer of '59 the Ripple Club, 
having entered the Ariadne in another race at New 
Bedford, with nice courtesy invited the Union Boat 
Club to send down a crew for her. The invitation 
was gladly accepted; and Henry Whitman, A. G. 
Baxter, Jr., James Dingley, and Amos Webster, Jr., 
volunteered their services. Of these only Webster 
had rowed in the remarkable whaleboat race of two 
years before. Once more the Ariadne was victorious, 
although matched against a formidable-looking boat, 
the Thorn, with a brawny crew of four who had 
supposed themselves sure winners. It is difficult to 
say which club, the Union or the Ripple, was more 
pleased with her victory. 

By way of further showing their good feeling, the 
men of the Ripple Club now placed their six-oared 
barge, of the same name as their club, at the dis- 
posal of the Union Boat Club. This Ripple remained 
in the Union boat-house for three seasons, and was 
much used for boating-parties. So here again is a 
sign that those leisurely days in the middle of the 
nineteenth century were the palmy days of courteous 
sport. 

Ever since the appearance on the Charles in Sep- 
tember, 1856, of the New York four that rowed in 
a McKay shell against the St. John four, there had 
been some desire in the Union Boat Club likewise to 



EARLY GROWTH 33 

have a shell, either a four or a six. After the sale 
of the beloved Ariadne, this desire was quickened, 
but still it never got beyond the stage of discussion 
till early in 1860, when the Club voted to order a 
four-oar shell. ' The committee in charge of the 
matter, after corresponding with Mr. A. A. Casa- 
major, an eminent sculler and prominent member of 
the London Rowing Club, England, decided that the 
best interests of the Club would be subserved by 
having the boat built there, and an order was ac- 
cordingly placed. Mr. Casamajor kindly gave his 
best attention to her construction, tested her on the 
Thames, and pronounced her fast. She was shipped 
by sailing vessel and landed in Boston in June. She 
differed in construction and rigging from boats of 
her class built in this country. In fact she 
was the first genuine shell that floated in American 
waters.' * 

This new four, of which great things were ex- 
pected, did not attain conspicuous success in her 
first summer. On the Fourth of July she was en- 
tered against a six-oar shell of Harvard, for at that 
time boats of all sizes competed in the same con- 
tests. There was a good deal of interest in the race, 
because it was* the first between Harvard and the 
Union Boat Club since a famous one for the Beacon 
Cup, in 1857, which is soon to be mentioned. For 
the first third of the three-mile course the race was 
about even. Then the Union boat ran into a float- 

1 Rogers, pp. 45-46. 



84> THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

ing buoy, which tore off her bow outrigger, render- 
ing her helpless. 

It was impossible to get Harvard to row again 
till the day after the race with Yale, which was to 
take place on Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester late 
in July. Unfortunately two of the Harvard men 
were so done up in winning their victory over Yale 
that they were unable to row against the Union crew 
in the ' citizens' regatta,' as the race of the follow- 
ing day was called. Yale was entered, however — 
a six, like all the crews except the Union — and it 
was the contest with her boat, rather than that with 
any other, which interested the Union men. For a 
time their hopes were high. They had Yale so well 
astern that they were confident of victory, when half 
a mile from the finish the Union bow oar caught his 
blade in the branch of a sunken tree ; the boat came 
to a standstill. In the effort to get her under way 
again rapidly, the stroke cracked his oar in the row- 
lock, and for the rest of the distance could merely 
go through the form of rowing. Yale won from the 
Union crew by one second, 1 but did not come up to 
a New York crew, which was first. 

Here is as good a place as any for a word on 
the peculiarity of regattas of the middle nineteenth 
century that would impress most oddly a spectator 
of to-day — that is, the variety of the competing 
craft. This was inevitable, because, with the com- 

1 The time of the Union was nineteen minutes and forty seconds. 
The course was a mile and a half and return. 



EARLY GROWTH 35 

parative scarcity of racing boats anyway, there were 
so few of a kind that, had races been confined to 
those in which the boats were all alike, they would 
have been rowed only in a blue moon. Accordingly 
that race was chronicled as something rare in which, 
on June 23d, 1856, Alfred Whitman, Jr., of the 
Union, and Robert F. Clark, of the Volant Club, 
rowed in two light single-scull lapstreaks exactly 
similar. 1 You might see competing in one and the 
same race pair-oars, four-oars, six-oars, an eight, 
and rarely even a ten. 2 Moreover, there was wide 
divergence in the construction of boats pulled by 
the same number of oars. A Chelsea boat-builder, 
for instance, estimated forty feet sufficient length 
for an eight; New York builders generally gave 
that length to a six; and St. John builders de- 
creased the beam of boats and allowed thirty-eight 
feet for a four. 3 Naturally, with such differences 
of size and number of oars, the smaller boats would 
claim a time allowance; and the settling of this 
furnished a difficult problem for the judges to solve 
to the satisfaction of crews. i Until boats became 
numerous enough to make a respectable showing, oar 
for oar, it was a subject of much discussion. Even 
with the aid of Harvard's mathematicians no definite 
solution could be reached. The generally adopted 

1 Whitman was the winner. 

2 In the race at Hull, September 13, 1853, in which the Ripple was 
victorious, there were entered also, besides two other fours, the Flash, 
two oars, the F. F. Meagher, six oars, and the General Sarsfield, ten 
oars. 3 Rogers, p. 19. 



36 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

handicap allowed by a six to a four was thirty 
seconds — fifteen seconds per oar ; and the gen- 
erally adopted rule of the four was to demand twenty 
seconds or more per oar, and then take what could 
be got. By general consent fifteen seconds per oar 
was finally agreed upon as a fair equalisation for 
three miles.' * 

Another problem was the classification of crews 
in a regatta; the practice of putting amateurs in 
even competition with longshoremen was soon felt 
to be unjust. The difficulties of this problem led 
directly to the first amateur rowing association in 
this part of the world; for since it appeared that 
relief could be obtained only through an organisa- 
tion that was strictly amateur, various rowing clubs 
of Boston made efforts to form one. At first the 
Union Boat Club opposed the project; its mem- 
bers thought that amateur boat clubs in Boston 
were too few in number to support the desired asso- 
ciation properly. Other clubs, however, were eager 
for it — the Triton and Young America already 
mentioned, and the still newer Volant Club. And 
so as time passed, and the men of the Union found 
that certain gentlemen who cared for rowing, even 
though not members of these clubs, would help the 
proposed organisation, they, too, lent their aid. 
The result was that in the year 1855 the Charles 
River Amateur Boat Club Association was formed, 
composed of members of the four clubs already 
1 Rogers, p. 27. 



EARLY GROWTH 37 

named and various other gentlemen interested in 
rowing. ' The government was vested in a board 
of directors, one from each club. The President of 
the Union Club was elected to fill the presidential 
chair. A gold medal was struck to be contended 
for annually, the same to be retained by the win- 
ning club until it could be fairly won by another 
club. Provision was also made for second prizes.' * 

The association proved to be short-lived ; it ceased 
to exist in the following year. Its first race, held in 
June, '55, brought out from the Union only two 
boats — as a matter of fact, all the racing material 
the Club then possessed — a tub of a wherry, and a 
heavy four named the Union, for in the old days a 
Union of some sort was always in the Club navy. 
They met with no success. At the second race in 
October, the four was changed into a six (which is 
not to be confused with the six-oared Union bought 
the next year), and so altered it managed to secure 
a second prize. The crew were H. P. Livermore, 
Henry C. Ahlborn, A. Whitman, D. W. Rogers, 
R. J. Bulger, and George Higginson, Jr. 

In the third regatta of the Association, on June 
23d, 1856, Whitman distinguished himself again. 
He won the first prize for single sculls in that con- 
test with Robert F. Clark which, we have seen, ex- 
cited admiration because of the perfect match of 
the two competing boats. Nor was this the only 
respect in which they attracted attention. Light lap- 
1 Rogers, p. 23. 



38 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

streaks, outrigged, and canvassed fore and aft, they 
were something quite new to Boston, the nearest 
approach to a shell which Boston had yet seen, for 
the Swordfisk, the first real shell of the Club, was not 
built by McKay till the following year. These two 
' approaches ' to shells, which were much like the 
wherries of the present, had been built by Stephen 
Roberts of New York, who hoped that by introduc- 
ing them to Boston oarsmen he might have orders for 
more like them. Similar as they were, the boats 
differed in one respect, for ' to one,' as Mr. Rogers 
says, Stephen Roberts ' gave the name of himself, 
and to the other the more euphonious name of 
Fancy. 9 Roberts was not disappointed in his hopes; 
these boats, coming into favorable notice, thanks to 
the race between Clark and Whitman, gave con- 
siderable impetus to single sculling on the Charles 
and brought various orders to their builder. Among 
the early purchasers of a Roberts boat was Dr. 
Holmes ; and it was in a Roberts lapstreak that 
he enjoyed the rowing which inspired some charm- 
ing and well-known descriptive passages of the 
Autocrat. As a lover of the shining reaches 
of the river and of the more adventurous waters 
of the harbor, Dr. Holmes knew many Union 
Boat Club oarsmen, but he was never of the Club 
himself. 

To return to the regatta of the Charles River 
Amateur Boat Club Association, Whitman deserved 
the greater credit for winning his single-scull race, 



EARLY GROWTH 39 

because he had previously, in the same regatta, 
pulled one of the four oars of the then newly ac- 
quired Ariadne in the contest for the gold medal of 
the Association. The other contestants were the 
six of the Volant Club, and fours from the smaller 
clubs. By swerving from her course through ' an 
unfortunate accident,' as the records say, 1 within 
two hundred feet of the judges' boat at the finish, 
the Ariadne lost the medal to the Volant crew, but 
coming only a few seconds behind, she gained the 
second prize. 

The following autumn the Volant crew retired 
from racing, and delivered the medal which they 
had won to the Association. The smaller clubs 
had but little racing enthusiasm, and so in the 
second year of its existence, the Charles River 
Amateur Boat Club Association broke up. The 
feeling of the Union Boat Club at the outset was 
justified that there was not sufficient amateur strength 
on the Charles to warrant such an organisation. 

The regattas already mentioned were not the only 
ones in which the Union Boat Club participated or 
took deep interest during its youthful years. In 
1855 the City for the second time entrusted its 
Fourth of July regatta to the management of the 
Club, which again threw open its doors to visiting 
oarsmen. This was even a greater success than the 
first regatta. Boats came from the Provinces and 
from New York to compete on the Charles. It was 

1 Records, July 1, 1856. 



40 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the same story in the years that followed; the City 
for a long time continued to entrust the manage- 
ment of the Fourth of July races to the Club; the 
Club always took keen interest in them; and it 
always offered the hospitality of its house to visit- 
ing crews, as for that matter it does to-day. But 
after the first year, the Club seems to have partici- 
pated actively in these regattas only once before 
1860 — that year in which the new English four- 
oar shell met with the accident to an outrigger in its 
race with Harvard. On the Fourth in '57, when 
nimble Ariadne was out speeding the thirty whale- 
boats in New Bedford Harbor — a graceful nymph, 
you might imagine her, fleeing from ungainly satyrs 
— that very day on the home waters, there was a 
single-scull race for youths under twenty, which was 
won by Henry Whitman, 1 brother of that good oar, 
Alfred Whitman, then down at New Bedford in the 
Ariadne. The course of the sculling race was about 
three miles ; there were five entries ; and the first 
prize, which Whitman won in the Twilight, was a 
silver medal. 

There are various other victories of the Club to 
chronicle. On the 22nd of June, 1859, W. H. Car- 
penter and Henry H. Brackett won the first prize 
in the double-scull race of the so-called Beacon re- 
gatta (an annual event for several years after 

1 According to the records, Mr. Henry Whitman was not elected 
to the Club till July 15, 1858; but through his brother he was 
closely affiliated with the Club, and the silver medal, which he won 
in this race, has always been shown among the Club trophies. 



EARLY GROWTH 41 

1857 1 ), and so brought home to the Club a pair 
of miniature silver oars and a miniature silver boat- 
hook. J. D. Parker, Jr., on May 11th, 1860, won 
the first single-scull prize, a silver goblet, in the 
Amateurs' regatta. In the same year, Melvin S. 
Smith won the first single-scull prize in a Charles- 
town regatta on June 18th; five days later in the 
Beacon regatta he won first again; and again, in 
the City regatta on the Fourth. Truly he was a 
strong oar for the Club. And the next year, 1861, 
Carpenter and Parker, in a two-mile double-scull race 
in the Fourth of July regatta, defeated Joshua Ward, 
champion single-sculler of America, and G. W. Shaw ; 
going over the course in twelve minutes, fifty-four 
and a half seconds — a time that remained the 
record for twenty-eight years. 2 It was so good that 
there were protests, needless to say unfounded, that 
the mile as measured was a short mile. Since all these 
last prizes were in money, there is nothing to show 
for them at the club-house. 

And now two races of these years still remain to 
be mentioned, which were among the most note- 
worthy of the time, and which testify to both the 
friendliness and the prowess of the Union Boat Club. 
One was a race between Harvard and Yale. The 
other was the first race for the so-called Beacon Cup. 

1 There were Beacon Cup regattas in 1857, '58, '59, and '60, and 
again in '63 and '64. 

2 They rowed in the double-scull shell, L'Hirondelle, built by 
Donahue of Newburgh, N. Y., for two friends of Parker. It was 
loaned for this race. 



42 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

It has already been said that the Union Boat 
Club, in its early days of friendship with the Har- 
vard oarsmen, got for them a four like the Ripple, 
that victorious Union boat of 1853, and that the 
Harvard four was oddly named the Y—Y. She was 
entered in the second race between Harvard and 
Yale, which was to be rowed at Springfield on the 
21st of July, 1855; and the Harvard men, de- 
sirous both of showing friendship and of having 
friendly support, asked the whole Union Boat Club 
to be present in the triple capacity of guests, ad- 
visers, and assistants. The more active rowing men 
of the Club accepted the invitation with pleasure. 
Naturally their favorite was the Y— Y, the boat 
which they had procured for Harvard. Their sec- 
ond choice was the Iris, the Harvard eight. Accord- 
ing to the custom of heterogeneous entries of those 
days, Yale opposed to the Harvard eight and four 
two sixes, the Nereid and the Nautilus; and as the 
day of the race approached, there was the inevitable 
dispute as to what time allowance the largest boat 
should give the others. The decision was that the 
Iris should allow them eleven seconds for each oar 
by which she was superior. This and other matters 
finally arranged, the all-important day saw the four 
competing crews in readiness for the signal at the 
appointed hour. Then, as Mr. Rogers tells the 
tale, ' at the start Nereid of Yale took the lead and 
retained it for a little distance; but at the stake 
boat the Harvard boats were well ahead, and gained 



EARLY GROWTH 43 

rapidly on the home stretch. The time of the Iris 
was 22W; of the Y-Y, corrected time, 22'03"; of 
the Nereid, corrected, 23'38"; of the Nautilus, cor- 
rected, 24'38". 

' The result was distasteful to the Yale men, who 
claimed that their defeat was in a measure owing 
to the inferiority of their boats as compared with 
Harvard's. To test this opinion three of the Y-Y 
crew — John Erving, Langdon Erving, and A. E. R. 
Agassiz, 1 with three of the Union Boat Club, — W. 
D. W. Allan, Alfred Whitman, Jr., and Henry C. 
Ahlborn, manned the Nereid, working her with the 
Iris's oars, and went over the course against time. 
Though unpracticed together they pulled the Yale 
boat over the three miles in 21/45", or fifteen sec- 
onds less time than the winning eight-oared Iris had 
made the same distance, much to the discomfiture of 
Yale.' 2 

The advice of the Union Boat Club to the Har- 
vard crews on this occasion had at least one singular 
result. Since no black lead was available as a lubri- 
cant for the bottoms of the boats, the Union men 
suggested using soap. In consequence, as the Har- 
vard boats forged ahead they threw off streak after 
streak of thick suds which remained visible as far as 
the eye could reach, much to the surprise of the 
spectators, who naturally wondered what had hap- 
pened to the water. 

1 The fourth of the Y-Y crew was S. G. Perkins. 

2 Rogers, p. 20. 



44 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

In recognition of services rendered to Harvard 
boating men on many occasions besides this, ' they 
were pleased later to tender the Club a banquet at 
the Parker House in Boston. And again, some two 
years later, in a note from the president of the Har- 
vard Huron Club, 1 thanking the Unions for extend- 
ing the use of their boat-house previous to a race 
with a crew on the river, occurs the following 
passage : 

' " It is to your Club that we are indebted 
for the first quick boat we ever had — the Y-Y. 
She no longer floats; but while a fondness for 
quick boats exists in Cambridge, be assured we 
shall not forget our obligations to the club who 
first by its example induced us to discard our 
old barges. Permit me to offer my best wishes 
for the continued prosperity of the Nestor 
among boat clubs in Boston." ' 2 

But the event on which the Club most prided itself 
in these years was its victory in the ' Beacon Regatta ' 
of June, 1857. When it became evident early in the 
spring that the six-oared Union, which had come up 
from St. John the previous fall, was a very quick 
boat, there was a natural desire among both Union 
and Harvard men to try her against the new Har- 
vard eight, which also had been built at St. John 
by Christopher Coyle, and had been sent up to Bos- 
ton just before the Union. All talk of a race be- 

1 Then the principal rowing club at Harvard. 
8 Rogers, pp. 21 and 22. 



EARLY GROWTH 45 

tween the two came to nothing, however, till some 
gentlemen, mostly of Beacon Street, made up their 
minds to have it pulled off. They bought a silver 
cup for the prize, and intimated that they might 
offer a similar cup for competition annually. It was 
to be known as the Beacon Cup, and June 13th was 
the day chosen for the race. 

The Union crew at first had high hopes of victory, 
which suddenly fell, when their stroke found himself 
unexpectedly obliged to leave town only three days 
before the race. But the substitute stroke, Edmund 
S. Whitman, brother to those good oars, Alfred and 
Henry Whitman, proved equal to the emergency. 
He kept his crew so well together in the race that 
the result was never doubtful; and the Beacon Cup 
went to the Union Boat Club. 

The attention which the newspapers gave this first 
Beacon regatta proves it so important among the 
early races of Boston, that it is worth while to quote 
the very full story of the contest which appeared in 
the Boston Traveller of the next day : 

' A few gentlemen of Boston, who think boat- 
ing a manly and healthful recreation, sub- 
scribed a hundred dollars a few weeks since to 
purchase a regatta cup, to be rowed for by the 
Charles River amateur clubs of Boston and 
Cambridge. The race was pulled on Saturday, 
the 13th instant, under the management of the 
subscribers' committee. 

' Six boats had been entered, but the Oneida 
of Cambridge was unable to pull, on account of 



46 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the illness of one of her crew, and five only con- 
tested the race. Cambridge sent three — the 
Harvard, Camilla and Sabrina. The Union and 
Urania are of Boston, the former club being 
about all that is left of the Charles River Ama- 
teur Boat Club Association. The victory of 
the Volant over the Huron, on the 16th of last 
month, had roused the spirit of Harvard Col- 
lege, unused to defeat, and her boating men 
were incited to more than ordinary effort to 
sustain their high reputation. The fame of 
Harvard, twice victorious over Yale, was not 
again to be trusted to a single club or class. 
The strength of the College was concentrated 
in its best boat — the " University Eight " — 
and the Harvard, with the best men the College 
could furnish, was entered to win the Beacon 
Cup. The contest was substantially between the 
Harvard and the Union. The Urania, Camilla 
and Sabrina clubs are comparatively young, and 
it should be stated in justice to them, that they 
pulled rather against each other than with any 
hope of the cup. 

' The regulations of the regatta were pub- 
lished in Saturday's Traveller. The course 
was the usual three miles. The allowance of 
time, after much discussion, was finally settled 
at fifteen seconds per oar. The Harvard drew 
the outside berth, the Urania the next, the 
Sabrina No. 3, Union No. 4, and the Camilla 
the inside. We give below the crews of the two 
leading boats, their positions and weights : 



EARLY GROWTH 



47 



Union — Six Oars 

st. lb. 

Stroke E. S. Whitman 10 8 

No. 5 Geo. W. Smalley . 10 8 

No. 4 Nathaniel H. Bryant 9 7 

No. 3 Albert G. Baxter, Jr 10 8 

No. 2 Alfred Whitman, Jr 12 2 

No. 1 A. Webster, Jr 8 8 

Average weight, 10 st. 5 lbs. 

Harvard — Eight Oars 

st. lb. 

Stroke B. W. Crowninshield 10 10 

No. 7 Wm. H. Elliot 10 12 

No. 6 T. D. Hodges 11 6 

No. 5 James H. Ellison 10 10 

No. 4 William F. Lee 12 10 

No. 3 S. B. Parkman 10 10 

No. 2 Wm. G. Goldsmith 9 12 

No. 1 A. E. R. Agassiz 9 9 

Average weight, 10 st. 11% lbs. 



' The crew of the Urania, six oars, was as 
follows : Stroke — C. E. Livermore, T. B. Wales, 
Jr., C. E. Parker, J. T. Heard, Jr., W. Mer- 
riam, J. H. Wales. The Urania and Sabrina 
carried a coxswain — the other boats none. 
The judges were C. F. Shimmin, Wm. C. Otis, 
G. T. W. Braman and R. F. Clark. 

6 The boats came to the line a few minutes 
before 4 o'clock, and were started at 4 h. 1 m. 48 
sec. The Harvard led almost instantly in splen- 
did style. Twenty strokes carried her ahead of 
everything, fifty gave her a lead of a clean 
length, and so rapidly did she leave her rivals 



48 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

that the race seemed half won at the start. 
The six-oared boats clung together, the Urania 
leading slightly, the Camilla next, while the 
Union and Sabrina had managed to lock oars, 
and were farthest astern. Ten or fifteen sec- 
onds were lost to the Union by this accident, 
which was owing to her being too near the 
Sabrina on the line. Before long, however, hav- 
ing cleared herself from her neighbor's oars, 
the Union began to shove steadily out from 
among the six oars, and started on what looked 
like a hopeless contest with the Harvard. The 
latter had made the most of her advantages, 
was half a dozen lengths ahead, and her crew 
were pulling capitally. On the up stretch there 
was little change in the relative positions of the 
leading boats. The Harvard went round the 
stake twenty-seven seconds in advance, making 
a good turn and doing her work well. But the 
Unions turned still better, having a shorter 
boat, gained two or three seconds there, and 
now, after they were fairly round, began to over- 
haul the Harvard steadily and surely. 

' By the time the upper breakwater was 
passed, it was plain that the Harvard could 
not save her allowance, and very soon it grew 
doubtful whether she could even keep the 
lead to the judges' line. When the boats came 
once more in sight of the mass of spectators on 
the mill-dam it was all over with the Harvard, 
so far as winning the race was concerned. The 
struggle then was for the lead, and the finish 
of the race became most exciting and beautiful. 
Though pulling six oars against eight, the 
Union did not cease to gain on the Harvard, 
and it was at one time thought would pass her. 



EARLY GROWTH 49 

They finally crossed the line so nearly even that 
only a half second's difference in time could be 
noted. As the Union was entitled to thirty 
seconds allowance for difference in number of 
oars, she had of course 29% seconds to spare. 
The Harvard came in at 4 h. 22 m. 8% sec - ? the 
Union at 4 h. 22 m. 9 sec. The contest between 
the Urania and Camilla was an obstinate one, 
the former leading by 17 seconds. The time is 
as follows : 

Harvard, 20 m. 20% sec « 
Union, 20 m. 21 sec. 
Urania, 22 m. 
Camilla, 22 m. 17 sec. 
Sabrina, 22 m. 24 sec. 

' Deducting the allowance, the Union was the 
winner by 29% seconds. The weather was un- 
favorable. A strong S.W. wind was blowing, 
and there was an ugly chop sea, which seriously 
interfered with the rowing. In spite of these 
disadvantages the time of the Union is very 
much better than had been made by any ama- 
teur six-oar. The Urania has the honor of 
having beaten both the Cambridge six oars. 

* The defeat of the Harvard was a great dis- 
appointment to her friends, who placed the ut- 
most reliance on her well known speed and the 
merits of her crew. She was pulled handsomely 
and well, and her time is good. 

' The style of all the crews shows marked 
improvement in the standard of amateur pull- 
ing, and of the two leading boats in particular, 
the finish and precision of stroke was univer- 
sally observed. It is to be noted, also, that 



50 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

neither of them varied in quickness of stroke 
from the beginning to the end of the race. The 
Union's was forty-four to the minute, by actual 
count. 

' The cup was presented by Mr. C. F. Shim- 
min to the Union in the following capital speech : 

6 " It becomes my agreeable duty, gentlemen, 
to present to you the Beacon Cup for 1857, as 
victors in the well contested race delighted thou- 
sands have just witnessed. Your laurels have 
been hardly but honorably won, and to you, 
therefore, be the guerdon of victory. Forgive 
me, gentlemen, one and all, if I address you a 
few brief words of soberness, which hardly seem 
to tally with so festive an occasion. The Bea- 
con Cup, I trust, has now become an annual 
institution, and the subscribers to it expect of 
you, gentlemen, ever scrupulously to maintain 
the true and legitimate tone of boating, and to 
make it a point of honor that in your hands at 
least it shall never degenerate into a mere ex- 
cuse for idleness or dissipation. Let manly 
emulation, free from envy and detraction, ever 
flourish side by side with all the kindly ties of 
good fellowship and Christian brotherhood, and 
your consistent action prove that the noble art 
we all love so well is a powerful hygiene alike 
to the mind as to the body. 

6 " Gentlemen, I have done, and bid you God- 
speed, in the words which form the motto of 
our cup : Made Virtute — go on and prosper." 

* Mr. Webster, in reply, expressed the pleas- 
ure felt by the Club in receiving it, and its ap- 
preciation of the liberality and kindly spirit of 
the donors. 

6 The regatta was well managed throughout, 




THE BEACON CUP 




THE BEACON CUP 



EARLY GROWTH 51 

and was a complete success. As usual, specta- 
tors thronged to the course by the thousand, 
lining the Milldam and covering the waters. It 
is understood that a cup is to be offered an- 
nually for competition, with the same name, and 
under the patronage of the same gentlemen, to 
whom the Clubs and the public generally are 
indebted for Saturday's regatta. The cup for 
1857 is of extremely beautiful and appropriate 
design, costing $100. Valuable and beautiful 
as it is, its worth to the victors and the honor 
of their triumph are greatly enhanced by the 
character of the gentlemen who subscribed for 
it, and the motives which caused it to be offered. 
It is the best encouragement which has been 
given to the best of our manly exercises.' 

The two photographs opposite this page, one of 
the front and the other of the back of the Beacon 
Cup, will enable the reader to see just how beautiful 
and appropriate the design was. 

Other races of these early years were compara- 
tively unimportant; those mentioned are enough to 
show the progress of the Club in the first decade 
of its existence. However unskilful its watermanship 
for two summers, with no navy but its clumsy, gaudy 
gig, in the third summer there was a change. Thanks 
to new men, and through them to new boats, there 
came the victories of the Ripple, invitations to man- 
age the City regattas on the Fourth of July, invita- 
tions likewise to New Bedford and to the Harvard- 
Yale regattas of '55 and '60, an important part in 
the formation of the Charles River Amateur Boat 



52 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Club Association, and victories from the Beacon Cup 
race in '57 to that in which Carpenter and Parker 
in '61 defeated Ward, champion single-sculler of 
America, and Shaw. And all the while, the Union 
Boat Club was interested in forwarding new ideas 
about rowing and in assisting new clubs. Its first 
ten years were years of good healthy growth. 

The first year of its second decade saw the greatest 
and most rapid growth of all, for in February, 1861, 
the Union Boat Club took in thirteen new members. 
They were men of the Shawmut — also called Twi- 
light — Rowing Club, an energetic association two 
years old, which had decided either to enlarge its 
membership or affiliate with some other club. The 
addition of thirteen was a good deal for a club which 
had previously numbered only seventeen. Now with 
its membership of thirty, most of them energetic 
rowing men, the Union Boat Club had every reason 
to anticipate the best season in its history. 









ill/. :/f 









nrl 



- 



T>H foil 









DESCRIPTION OF PRIZES 

Centre, Beacon Cup 
First prize, won at the first Beacon Regatta, June 13, 1857, by 
Union, six oar. 

Goblet on the Right 
First Sculler's prize, won by W. D. W. Allan, City Regatta, July 
4, 1854. 

Goblet on the Left 
First Sculler's prize, won by J. D. Parker, Jr., Amateurs' Regatta, 
May 11, 1860. 

Goblet in Centre 
Second prize, won at the third Regatta of the Charles River 
Amateur Boat Club Association, June 23, 1856, by Ariadne, four oar. 

Pitcher on Left of Group 
First prize, won at the New Bedford City Regatta, July 4, 1857, 
by Ariadne, four oar. 

Second Pitcher on Left 
First prize, won at the Regatta at Hull, September 13, 1853, by 
Ripple, four oar. 

Pitcher on Right of Group 
Second prize, won at the second Regatta of the Charles River 
Amateur Boat Club Association, October 27, 1855, by Union, six oar. 

Second Pitcher on Right 
First Sculler's prize, won at the Regatta of the Charles River 
Amateur Boat Club Association, June 23, 1856, by Alfred Whitman. 

Silver Oars and Boat Hook 
First prize, won by W. H. Carpenter and Henry H. Brackett, 
at the Beacon Regatta, June 22, 1859, double scull race. 

Silver Medal in Front 
First Sculler's prize, won by Henry Whitman at Amateurs' Regatta, 
July 4, 1857. 

Tiller Ropes 
Second prize, 1 won at the Regatta at Hull, September 13, 1853, 
by Wave, four oar. 

» Cf. note, p. 16. 




EARLY PRIZES 



Ill 

SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 

\ NY club, in order to be loved by its members, 
■**• must do more than make a creditable showing 
to the outside world. It must also make its individu- 
ality felt at home, for it is individuality that wins 
and holds affection. Fortunately, in the case of the 
Union Boat Club, individuality became marked almost 
as soon as prominence in rowing; the fifties saw the 
establishment of several peculiar customs of the kind 
from which the individuality of a club is made. By 
degrees these old customs have all passed, as they 
needs must because of the changes in population and 
social conditions in eastern Massachusetts; but 
luckily new ones have been established in their place. 
And so the Union Boat Club is still a markedly indi- 
vidual organisation. So much the better ! But 
though we have customs of our own now, we cannot 
help wishing that it had been possible to keep some 
of a simpler day. 

The first of the old institutions or customs to 
be well recognised was that of inaugurating the row- 
ing season on Fast Day. Now the day itself has 
passed, as well as the custom, and so quickly do 
the years go by that perhaps already the name 

53 



54 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

needs explanation. Fast Day, then, was a day ap- 
pointed from Puritan times x by annual proclamation 
of the Governor of the Commonwealth for ' fasting, 
humiliation, and prayer.' In the nineteenth century 
it was usually set on the Thursday after the first 
Wednesday in April, just as Thanksgiving, after 
various changes of date, came to be set on the last 
Thursday in November. With the lapse of time, the 
original purpose of Fast Day was for the most part 
forgotten. It was celebrated by the opening of the 
baseball season and by excursions into the country 
to find places for spending the summer ; and all the 

1 An annual spring Fast Day in Massachusetts dates as far back 
as 1694. At least there is record of the Governor's proclaiming a 
general fast that year for the 19th of April, and with few exceptions a 
spring Fast Day was proclaimed every subsequent year for two cen- 
turies. Previously fast days had been common in all the New Eng- 
land colonies, but they did not occur at regular periods, and some- 
times they were appointed only for particular towns or churches 
instead of for the whole colony. In Connecticut the custom of an 
annual Fast Day seems to have been established before it was in 
Massachusetts. It seems also to have existed in Plymouth when that 
was still an independent colony. 

The archives in the Massachusetts State House show that the date 
of the Massachusetts Fast Day varied in the early 18th century 
from February to the end of June, but it was generally on a Thursday. 
The tendency slowly grew to appoint it in April, and after 1797, 
when it came on May 4th, it was appointed for April as long as it 
lasted, except in 1839, when it came on March 28th. During all 
these years, moreover, with less than twenty exceptions, the Gover- 
nor set it on the Thursday after the first Wednesday in April. Two 
or three times early in the 19th century, it was set on Thursday, 
April 1st, and several times on a later Thursday, as in 1857 on April 
16th — its latest date in the 19th century. In 1876, '77, and '78, it 
was appointed for the 13th, 12th, and 11th of April, respectively. 
In later as in most earlier years, it came never before the 2d or after 
the 8th of April. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 55 

theatres had extra matinee performances. Then at 
last, in 1894, 1 when it had become entirely a sham, 
Fast Day was abolished; and by way of compensa- 
tion another day in April was made a legal holiday, 
the nineteenth, the anniversary of Lexington and 
Concord, and named Patriots' Day. 

It was in 1855 that the Union Boat Club for the 
first time 2 made Fast Day anything but the sort of 
holiday that His Excellency, the Governor, called for 
in his proclamation. On that appointed day, in the 
forenoon, there sallied forth from the Club House the 
majority of its members for a row up the river. 
Whether they prayed for the welfare of the Club 
is not recorded; they may have done so. But we 
can be pretty sure that since the day was fine and 
bracing and the men were young and strong, they 
were far from having humble hearts or fasting 
stomachs. And so after a pull sufficient to whet 
their appetites, they repaired for a bountiful repast 
to Watkins' Hotel on the mill-dam, where we have 
seen the Club supping after the victories of the 
Ripple and the Wave at Hull, and whither they often 
resorted. Its excellent ale made it a favorite resort 
for tired oarsmen, and, as Mr. Rogers says with an 
unusual flash of humor, somehow ' they were always 
tired when in this vicinity.' 

1 Governor Greenhalge signed the act abolishing Fast Day on 
March 16th. It was to take immediate effect. 

2 At least there is no mention of an earlier Fast Day excursion in 
Mr. Rogers's History of the Club. The records make no mention of 
it even in '55. 



56 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

This method of celebrating Fast Day proved so 
agreeable, that the only departure from it which the 
Club made the next year was to dine farther up- 
stream, at the Charles River Hotel in Brighton. 
In '57 the Fast Day dinner was at the same place 
again, but it was not the only celebration of the 
day. Before going there, the Club, at the invitation 
of Lieutenant Harris, U.S.N., visited the U. S. 
frigate, Merrimac, at the Charlestown Navy Yard, 
the same that in '62 was made over into a Con- 
federate ram. She was now, in '57, just back from 
a cruise to the West Indies. The reception which 
Lieutenant Harris arranged for the Club was ' a 
splendid one in every sense ' and ' was gratefully 
acknowledged by speech and song.' * And all this in 
the forenoon! 

The success of these first three Fast Day excur- 
sions was enough to fix the custom of officially open- 
ing the rowing season on that day. Sometimes 
nearly all the Club took part in the excursion, but 
naturally the numbers varied according to the 
weather. When the Club boats were not enough 
for all who wished to go along, others were hired 
from Mr. Braman. The later excursions appear 
not to have differed essentially from those three 
already mentioned. There was always a good row 
in the morning, followed by a good dinner at some 
hotel easily accessible to oarsmen. 

This habit of making Fast Day a Club feast-day 

1 Rogers, 1857. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 57 

lasted till the nineties, with City Point, South Bos- 
ton, in later years, rather than Brighton, as the 
objective point. In the course of time, enthusiasm 
for the celebration of the day somewhat waned, partly 
because the hotels most conveniently situated ceased 
to exist, partly because the great increase in the 
number of members made concerted Club action less 
and less possible. Finally, whatever chance there 
was of keeping the institution alive ceased when 
Fast Day itself was abolished. Though many oars- 
men would venture out in March, still they would 
not do so in such numbers as to make an official 
opening of the rowing season the first week in April 
a work of supererogation. But with the usual ad- 
vance of spring, rowing in the second and third 
weeks of April is so general that to have an official 
opening of the season on Patriots' Day, the holiday 
which has replaced Fast Day, would seem absurdly 
superfluous. And so the attempt which was made 
for two years to turn the Fast Day excursion into a 
Patriots' Day excursion did not succeed. 1 

A later custom to establish itself, though never 
so firmly as the Fast Day row, was that of a similar 
row, when the tide was right, on some brilliant moon- 
light evening in the fall. For this ladies were some- 
times invited, and so it came to be recognised as one 
of the few opportunities which the members of the 
Club had to show themselves officially good ladies' 
men. The custom was continued into the eighties. 

1 See Ch. VI. 



58 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

A more important early institution of the Club, 
which lasted for some time, was the Annisquam En- 
campment. This began in 1853 with the excursion 
of about half the members of the Club, whose number 
then did not exceed twelve, to the Annisquam River 
near Gloucester. There on Rust's Island they 
pitched two tents — one for sleeping and one for 
cooking and eating — and there they stayed for 
several days. Sea-bathing, good fishing, the beauty 
of the salt river, glorious views from its bordering 
hills of ocean and coast, and last but not least, 
accessibility to a good dairy — all these made the 
sojourn so delightful that the encampment became 
an annual institution. The two tents gave way in 
time to two wooden cabins standing close together, 
not architecturally beautiful nor so picturesque as 
the tents, but more comfortable. And from these on 
their grassy and rocky promontory jutting into the 
blue river, with a point of yellow sand — excellent 
for bathing — just across the stream, the national 
flag and the Union Boat Club flag flew for at 
least a week every season for more than a dozen 
years. 1 

The log which Mr. Rogers compiled of the en- 
campment of 1857 no doubt gives a history char- 
acteristic of most ' Squam Encampments,' as these 
outings were called. In that year, the four-oar 



1 Mr. Rogers in his history says twenty years, but logged accounts 
of visits to the camp in the late sixties speak as if the encampment 
had been for some time a thing of the past. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 59 

Undine 1 and her tender Nick Bottom were shipped 
to Gloucester on a schooner on the 14th of July. 
Thither Livermore, Webster, and Rogers followed 
by train on the 20th to make preliminary ar- 
rangements, such as launching the boats and get- 
ting food and other necessaries for the camp. The 
next day, Dingley, Baxter, and Hunkins arrived 
from Boston by the Eastern Railroad; and then, 
with all possible despatch, the six good and faith- 
ful members of the Union Boat Club embarked for 
the site of the camp, where they were established 
before supper. ' Madam ' Day, as in former years, 
proved most accommodating in supplying butter, 
milk, and eggs fresh from her farm on the nearest 
island. The campers themselves, when their luck 
was good, provided plenty of fish. 

The camp broke up on July 29th, on which day 
the campers in a body ceremoniously presented a 
silver butter-knife to ' Madam ' Day as a farewell 
token of their esteem. Mr. Rogers has written at 
great length of the happenings of the glad week of 
the camp, but after all, they were not remarkable. 
To be sure, rain came at inopportune times, once 
falling in torrents the day long accompanied by a 
fierce southeaster. That was when a small lime 
schooner lost her * radder,' according to local pro- 
nunciation, and so went ashore — a * wrack ' of great 
interest to the Squam postmaster — and the life- 

1 I have been unable to find mention of this boat in the records. 
She may have been hired from Mr. Braman. 



60 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

savers had to take off her crew, consisting of only 
a man and a boy. But the other incidents of those 
happy days, except once a fight with bees, were quite 
ordinary — eating (too much for the stomach of one 
man), drinking, swimming, fishing, and the like; and 
of course much chaffing after the manner of healthy 
men together on a holiday — all interesting in mem- 
ory to the participants, but to no one else, unless 
related by a Fielding or a Thackeray, or one with 
their power to transfigure the commonplace. 

Meanwhile the headquarters of the Club were still 
at Braman's. In the first year, we have seen that 
it had only one room there, which it hired for $40, 
and this the Club fitted up as follows, according to 
official report : — 

' The committee appointed to furnish the 
room having attended to their duties, made the 
following report : they have purchased 6 Chairs, 
@ 48^, 2.88; 1 table, 1.75; 1 Looking Glass, 
2.25; 1 Lock, with 13 keys, 2.17; 1 Lantern, 
63^; y 2 lb. Nails, 5^; 1 Solar Lamp, 2.25; 
Oil Can and Oil, 1.07 ; 5 Window Shades, 5.00; 
Cord, 8^; pail, broom, & spittoons, 1.12; Boat- 
hook, 87^ ; 1 Commode, 1.25 ; Record Book & 
Inkstand, 1.25; Rack for Oars, 50^, making a 
total of $23.12, and the assessment of each 
member @ 2.10.' 

Subsequently the members of the Club paid $12 more 
for building steps on the outside of the room, which 
enabled them to enter it with more ease and privacy 
than by the main door of the Bath Building. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 61 

The next year, the Club succeeded in hiring a 
boat-house of Mr. Braman for only $25. In '53 
it paid again $40 a year, but it was now in a larger 
boat-house. This proved not large enough, however, 
and so in addition the Club hired an adjoining room 
for $10. Mr. Rogers says that these quarters, their 
furnishings, and also the boat Wave, were all bought 
at the same time from a disbanding rowing organisa- 
tion; but there is no mention of this in the records. 
Anyway, the new quarters — even with the additional 
room — were not large enough, for in August, at a 
further expense of $20 a year — making a rent of 
$70 in all — the Club hired still another room to 
accommodate the new Ripple, soon to become famous 
in the Hull regatta. 

These quarters the Club kept till '56. Then be- 
cause of filling in part of the river to make new land, 
Mr. Braman had to move his Baths upstream from 
their position near the present Brimmer Street to 
one nearer Beaver Street. There he built a house 
especially for the Union Boat Club, which he leased 
to it at the same rent as before. A year later there 
is official record of a new carpet for the new house 
and of renovation of furniture; and then, for the 
first time, of the use of the rooms in the winter for 
1 gymnastic exercises,' which Mr. Rogers speaks of 
some time earlier, that is, in '53. * But the Club con- 
tinued to outgrow its quarters ; and so in the spring 
of '59, it was found necessary to hire additional 

1 See Ch. II, p. 22. 



62 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

accommodations from Mr. Braman for boats and 
dressing-rooms, at $50 a year. These sufficed for 
some time. 

All the while, in accordance with a principle early 
established, the members of the Club themselves gen- 
erally cared for the rooms. It had been voted at 
one of the first meetings that each week some mem- 
ber should be appointed to take care of the single 
room that then made up the Club quarters. Pres- 
ently a system of regular rotation was devised for 
sharing the duties of care-taker. As is only natural, 
there was a little friction sometimes in regard to 
these duties, for not all the members could have 
the same idea of them; and even if they had had, 
they would not have been equally conscientious in 
performing them. Consequently, it was deemed 
necessary in '54 to give the secretary supervision 
over the care-taker, with the right of fining him, if 
he did not do his work properly. Rogers, who was 
then secretary and as always a good deal of a dis- 
ciplinarian, imposed a fine on Alfred Whitman, who 
appealed, declaring that Rogers's action had been 
arbitrary. 1 The Club sustained Whitman, and 
Rogers, apparently in a huff, resigned his office. 
Fortunately both were too loyal members to allow 
the affair to turn into a quarrel; and so the only 
result of the misunderstanding was that the Club 
voted the next year 2 to hire ' a person,' sex not 
specified, at fifty cents a week to clean the rooms 
1 June 6, 1854. 2 April 3. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 63 

every Saturday. There was another vote to the same 
effect in June, '57. But no name of the ' person ' 
is recorded; and the year following, the Club re- 
verted to the old plan of each member's being 
care-taker of the room one week, as his turn came 
round. 

Though in this respect the Club was as primitive 
on the eve of the Civil War as it had been ten years 
previously, in its constitution it had progressed far 
from that of 1851 towards that of the present. 
The first constitution * ( adopted on the founda- 
tion of the Club), whose few simple provisions we 
have already noticed, 2 said nothing about the num- 
ber of members or the payment by new members of 
an initiation fee. Consequently, as early as the 
30th of the following July, articles were added, 
limiting the number of members to twelve and fixing 
an initiation fee of $5. Ever since there has been 
some initiation fee and a fixed limit of membership. 

In 1853 a new constitution was drawn up, which 
on May 21st received the unanimous approval of 
the Club. The principal changes were that the three 
officers should be chosen for fixed terms — that is, 
monthly; the Treasurer's correct account of the 
financial affairs of the Club should be open at any 
time to the inspection of members, as it has been 
ever since; the membership should be limited to 
eight ; and the initiation fee should be raised to $10. 
Rules for the use of ' the Boat,' instead of being 

1 See Appendix A. 2 Ch. I, pp. 1 and 2. 



64 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

included in the constitution, now formed an inde- 
pendent set of ' Regulations ' of seven articles. 

A thorough-going revision of the constitution was 
approved at the meeting of April 1st, 1857. Simple 
article I, ' This Club shall be denominated the " Union 
Boat Club " ' was now enlarged into a preamble man- 
ifestly inspired by that of the Constitution of the 

United States: 

■» 

' We whose names are hereunto subscribed 
having associated ourselves in order to attain 
all the advantages which boating can afford, 
and desiring to establish for ourselves and our 
successors a suitable form of Government, are 
organised under the name of the Union Boat 
Club, and hereby agree upon and enact the fol- 
lowing Constitution.' * 

The chief officer was now designated ' President, 
who shall also act as Treasurer,' instead of Treas- 
urer, as heretofore. An Assistant Coxswain was 
added to the other officers, his duty to take charge 
of the boats in the absence of the Coxswain. This 
was a step towards the Lieutenants of the present 
day. Additional duties were prescribed for the Sec- 
retary, as giving notice of monthly meetings, and 
keeping an account of all races in which the Club 
was concerned. Constitutional notice was taken of 
the change from weekly to monthly meetings that 
had been effected in 1854. New members, who as 

1 The Club records of April, 1857. 



SOME OLD CLUB CUSTOMS 65 

heretofore were elected at meetings of the whole Club, 
had now to receive a unanimous vote instead of only 
a majority. Nothing was said about forfeiture of 
membership. 

The omission of such a provision called for the 
next change in the constitution. In December, 1859, 
it was voted that whoever had not paid his dues a 
month after notification of them should forfeit mem- 
bership. In the first constitution, the time had been 
a fortnight. Since 1859, it has been still further 
extended. 

Then in March, 1860, came a considerable remodel- 
ling. The title of the Coxswain was changed to 
Captain, which it has been ever since. Instead of 
one assistant he now had two, each called, as to-day, 
a Lieutenant. And the Captain and Lieutenants 
formed virtually, as they do to-day officially, a House 
Committee. 

In February of the next year, changes were made 
in this constitution, which was cut down from fifteen 
articles to thirteen. Thus made over, it was adopted 
by the Club as a new constitution, its fourth. For 
some reason there was a return to providing only one 
assistant for the Captain, the Lieutenant, whose 
work combined that of the two former Lieutenants. 
Here was a step backwards. But in establishing 
a Board of Directors, made up of the President 
(who remained still the Treasurer), Captain, Lieu- 
tenant, Secretary, and two other members, there 
was an approach to the Executive Committee of to- 



66 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

day. And though monthly meetings were still pre- 
scribed, elections of officers were to take place only 
twice a year, in January and July. 1 

It was at the time of the adoption of this new 
constitution that the Shawmut Boat Club joined the 
Union, thereby increasing the membership of the 
latter, as we have seen, from seventeen to thirty. 
In view of the greater accommodations needed, Mr. 
Br am an was persuaded to build an addition to the 
Union Boat House; and there was talk of further 
enlarging the Club quarters by obtaining the ad- 
jacent ' Printers ' house, but apparently this could 
not be got. There was also enlargement of the 
Club navy in the shape of a six-oared lapstreak, 
ordered in March of Coyle, the skilled boat-builder 
of St. John. A good crew was guaranteed to man 
her, and much was hoped of her. Altogether the 
Union Boat Club was justified in its high expecta- 
tions of a good rowing season in the summer of 
1861, and of continued prosperity. It had a larger 
membership than ever before, a better navy, a new 
constitution, and already, despite its youth, some 
well-established customs of the kind that give a club 
individuality and hold its members loyal. 

1 Vacancies might be filled at any regular meeting. 



IV 
THE WAR 

THE hopes of the Club for 1861 were to be dis- 
appointed. April brought the attack on Fort 
Sumter, and men throughout the country were volun- 
teering for the army. In the Union Boat Club there 
was much talk of enlisting, with consequent uncer- 
tainty as to the immediate future; and in point of 
fact during the first two years of the War a third of 
the members did enlist. 1 Even so, there was no time 
in these two years when there were not more men 
rowing in the Union than there had been before it 
absorbed the Shawmut Club. In '61 the Club boats, 
according to the log-book, were rowed more miles 
than in any earlier season, — 4420 as opposed to 
3917 miles for 1860, the best previous record. 2 
The gloom of the War, however, was settling down 

1 Mr. Rogers has named twelve who went into the army, but 
among these is Major H. L. Higginson, not then a member of the 
Club, for he had resigned from it in 1857. 

2 I give these figures as they are stated on page 8 of the Club Book 
for 1868, which gives the number of miles pulled by Club boats each 
year since 1856. Naturally, as men sometimes forget to log their 
pulls, 'the number of miles logged is less than the number of miles 
the boats were actually pulled.' The note says 'the logs previous 
to 1857 cannot be found.' At present, in 1910, many of those that 
existed in '68 have been lost. At least, previous to 1868, I can 
find only the logs for '59 and part of '60. 

67 



68 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

over the land thicker and thicker. For this reason, 
probably, there was not an interest in racing pro- 
portionate to that in rowing. Nor was the interest 
in rowing to be maintained as the War went on. 
It steadily decreased until 1864, which, with only 
245 miles logged, was the record year for indifference 
to rowing. 

Yet during the first year and a half of the con- 
flict, interest in racing still found some chances to 
show itself. Ten good oarsmen remained in the Club 
in the summer of '62, enough to make up a four and 
a six, both of which were entered in the Fourth of 
July regatta. For the four-oar race, naturally, the 
English shell bought in 1860 was selected. Again 
she had bad luck. It was no floating buoy this time 
that damaged her, as in her race against Harvard 
two years before, or sunken tree, as in the Yale race 
on Lake Quinsigamond ; but when she was well in 
the lead, along came a violent squall with rain, that 
nearly swamped her; and a heavier boat which 
shipped less water came in ahead. It was all that 
the crew of the four could do to keep afloat to their 
landing. 

The six-oar Union later in the day was more for- 
tunate. In the race for which she was entered, her 
crew kept the lead in good form from start to finish, 
and so brought to the treasury of the Club as first 
prize one hundred and seventy-five dollars in gold 
— all the more acceptable because of the premium 
which gold then commanded. 



THE WAR 69 

Two months after this race, the bow-oar, J. P. 
Lovejoy, enlisted, and so there was another good 
rowing man gone. The few able oarsmen who were 
left seemed to have lost their energy. Then followed 
a period when the Club did little more than keep itself 
alive. For the last three years of the War, there 
is not one interesting rowing event to chronicle. 
Naturally there could be but little enthusiasm for 
boating. Though Alfred Whitman moved in April, 
'63, that 6 two crews be selected from the married 
men of the Club, and two others from the single men, 
to contend for superiority in four-oared boats early 
in June,' no one seconded the motion. When Henry 
Whitman later that same year 1 suggested a vigorous 
campaign for new members, the opinion of the Club 
was that since there was so little interest in row- 
ing it would be better to remain quiet and dispose of 
some superfluous boats. At the same meeting the 
Captain said that no crew could be got together for 
the regatta of the Seventeenth of June. 

There was still some rowing for exercise, to be 
sure, and still interest in excursions. The Squam 
Encampment was still an annual institution. But in 
general, indifference to Club matters prevailed. The 
thoughts of the men at home were more on the 
Mississippi and the Potomac than on the Charles. 
At a Club meeting of July 17th, 1861, while a com- 
mittee was out nominating officers for the coming 
half-year, the Club voted that the President should 
1 May 6. 



70 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

read aloud the latest war news in the Traveller. 
At the meeting of November 6th of the same year, 
the President presented to the Club from H. H. 
Brackett, then in the army, a * truly magnificent 
pipe,' which ' was filled, lighted, and passed from 
mouth to mouth until twenty-one dear friends of the 
donor had taken his puff and passed it on ' ; and 
which was duly acknowledged in a fervid letter of 
thanks written the next day by a committee of three 
appointed for the purpose. 1 In '63 the Club voted, 
with the intent of honoring their brothers under 
arms, to have their Fast Day celebration not on the 
State Fast Day, but on April 30th, the national 
Fast Day. And in resolutions passed in October, 
1862, relieving all members of the Club who had en- 
listed or might enlist from their share of the main- 
tenance of the Club so long as they were in the 
army, the members in Boston declared, ' our hearts 
are with ' those at the front, and ' we wish them all 
" God speed " and a safe return.' 

The years of the War, though, were not entirely 
without progress for the Club. Its first eight, a 
barge forty-five feet long, was ordered early in '64 
of Messrs. Darling of New York, to be ready by the 
end of May. At the same time, the Club quarters 
were changed considerably. The house built by Mr. 
Braman in '56 was apparently still used, having been 
enlarged in '61. But by '64, Mr. Braman had filled 
in so much of the flats in order to make new land 
1 Club Records, November 6 and December 4, 1861. 



THE WAR 71 

that the Union boat-house stood high and dry, 
separated from the river by an uncomfortable carry. 
Accordingly, after being in treaty with Mr. Braman 
no less than three months, the Club got the newest 
part of its old house moved over the interven- 
ing new land to the water's edge, and placed next 
to the house which the Beacon Rowing Club had 
formerly occupied. There the Union boat-house was 
raised and a new ground floor was built under it, 
including a store-room for boats and a bath-room. 
When Mr. Braman announced in May that it would 
be four months before water and gas could be put 
in, the Club voted to take the matter out of his 
hands, adjusting expenses with him later, and to 
have water and gas put in immediately, and the 
stone wall in front of the house repaired. And so 
the Club was housed now in two buildings which 
Mr. L. S. King has described from memory as fol- 
lows : * ' The one to the North was the largest and was 
known as the Club-House. The one to the south was 
called the Beacon House, because formerly occupied 
by the New Beacon Club. The length of the build- 
ings was from west to east. There were two rafts 
and runs. In the Union House on the north side was 
the bath-room — its equipment one bath-tub ; and 
there were lockers on the south side of the narrow 
room; upstairs was the club-room, with covered 
lockers round the sides which were used for seats. 
The pictures of the London Rowing Club, the Union 
i Sketch of the Club, 1865-1870. 



72 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

shell four and boat, Clasper, the English sculler, 
Melvin Smith, our champion, and one or two smaller 
pictures hung on the walls. On the lower floor 
. . . the boats were housed on racks similar to those 
of to-day. 

6 In the Beacon House, the second floor was a 
room with a few chairs. It was but little used except 
for sparring bouts. This and the club-room in the 
Union House were at the west end of the houses 
overlooking the river. 

' Both houses were in rather a dilapidated con- 
dition, and constant repairs were needed to keep 
them habitable. One stove in the club-room was the 
extent of the heating facilities, and after rowing 
ceased in the fall, the buildings saw little of the 
members until the ice went out of the river, although 
the attendance at the monthly meetings was fairly 
good, taking into consideration the membership at 
this time.' 



TRANSFORMATION 

T I iHUS housed roughly, though better than it had 
■*■ ever been before, the Club was ready for its new 
growth, which began directly the War ended, and 
has never ceased since. It was so rapid in the years 
from '65 to '70, that by the end of that time, the 
Club had become the same sort of organisation which 
it is to-day. The change from its early conditions 
— at first gradual evolution that was arrested by 
the War, and after that quick transformation — was 
virtually completed. 

The growth of the later sixties that was so to 
transform the Union Boat Club, showed itself first 
early in 1865. Peace was already in sight. It was 
evident that within a few months the North could be- 
gin to settle down to its old ways, at least so far 
as it ever could. In point of fact, the tumultuous 
excitement and the magnitude of the conflict had 
banished the quiet simplicity of the old American life 
forever; but no one realised that then. Accord- 
ingly at the first Club meeting of '65, which was 
held on the 11th of February, the President, Mr. 
Rogers, addressed the eleven members present on the 
necessity of taking immediate action to bring new and 

73 



74 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

energetic young men into the Club. The appeal bore 
immediate fruit. Before midsummer fourteen new 
members had entered; and since there were only 
three resignations, this meant a net gain of eleven. 
Before the end of the year, this was increased by 
two more entries. The new men proved as active, 
too, as had been hoped. The rowing done by Club 
members this year exceeded that of the gloomy War 
year of '64, with its meagre two hundred and forty- 
five miles, by over eleven hundred. This, too, was 
without the stimulus of competitive rowing; for, for 
some reason, there was little racing this year. The 
Club members went out almost entirely in the barge 
and the six, and four-oared lapstreaks. The days 
of peaceful, companionable exercise had come again 
to the Charles River. 

For information about the Club boats at this time, 
as about the houses, we are indebted to the account 
of Mr. King. There were in '65 two four-oar ma- 
hogany racing shells, which had been built by Clasper 
in England. Then there were a six-oared lapstreak, 
Evadne, and a four-oared lapstreak, Ariadne, each 
painted yellow, equipped with outriggers, and steered 
by wires from the bow oar's seat. Besides, there 
were a double-scull, whose name has been forgotten, 
and four lapstreak wherries, Mascallonge, Twilight, 
Zouave, and Coquette, all built by Darling of New 
York — the two former steady and rather heavy, 
the other two, as befitted their names, lighter and 
more cranky. They further suited their names in 



TRANSFORMATION 75 

that, whereas the Mascallonge and the Twilight were 
painted soberly, the dashing Zouave, unsteadiest of 
the four, had a stripe of bright red across his black 
uniform, and the Coquette, prettiest of the four, was 
gay in green with a gold stripe. There was also the 
Toothpick, a black single shell in its last stages of 
usefulness if not past them. And most important of 
all, both in size and in the regard of the Club, was 
the barge Union, i a fine long boat pulling eight oars, 
with mahogany grating on bottom and a semi- 
circular seat in the stern capable of seating eight or 
more passengers, with a scroll back for the cox- 
swain's seat. Cushions for the seats, crimson tiller 
ropes, the Club ensign at the stem and the national 
colors at the stern made up her equipment. There 
were extra seats in the bow.' * The Union was 
painted white with blue stripes, the Club colors. It 
was in this unique craft that the Club made most 
of their so-called ' excursions.' Probably no other 
boat has given so many pleasant hours to the men 
of the Club. 

In the years immediately following, new boats 
of superior pattern and speed were added frequently ; 
and before long the Union Boat Club was rec- 
ognised as an organisation highly desirable to 
belong to. Though not every young gentleman in 
Boston who could row might make up his mind to 
join it, probably there was no young gentleman in 
Boston who could row who did not at least consider 
1 L. S. King, p. 3. 



76 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

joining it. The names on the Club list are mostly 
those of the best families in eastern Massachusetts. 
Such was the demand for admission that the Club, 
which at the beginning of 1861 had numbered only 
seventeen members, found itself deciding in June, 
1867, that it was inadvisable to increase the active 
membership beyond sixty ' by the admission of any 
who have never been members of the Club.' A year 
later this vote was rescinded; and two years later, 
that is, in '69, it was voted to make the number of 
active members one hundred. With the adoption of 
a new constitution in 1870, the limit was fixed at one 
hundred and fifty. Thus within nine years the mem- 
bership grew from seventeen — a number sugges- 
tive of some petty club in a village — to a possible 
hundred and fifty — a number of relatively more 
importance in the Boston of 1870 than the present 
number of active members, three hundred, in the 
Boston of to-day. 

During this rapid growth, probably no event 
stirred the Club so much as Mr. Rogers's resigna- 
tion of the presidency at the first meeting of 1866. 
He had held the office for ten years ; previously he 
had been Secretary from time to time; he was the 
founder of the Club, and always a loyal member. 
For these reasons, though he had occasionally of- 
fended some of his fellows by an inclination to wield 
autocratic power, no man in the Club was more 
highly esteemed. Accordingly, as the Secretary of 
the time says, when his resignation was read, ' the 



TRANSFORMATION 77 

meeting was at once virtually resolved into a pro- 
testing committee of the whole.' Since it appeared 
that Mr. Rogers found the burden of office too 
heavy, it was voted to relieve him by separating 
the management of the finances from his other duties, 
thus creating for the first time the office of a Club 
Treasurer, distinct from that of President. With 
this relief, Mr. Rogers was persuaded to remain in 
office. But in the summer of 1868 he tendered his 
resignation again, this time irrevocably, despite the 
regret of all the members, who voted the thanks of 
the Club to him for the able manner in which he had 
administered the offices he had held. Now made an 
honorary member, Mr. Rogers remained till his death 
devoted to the memory of the earlier days of the 
Boat Club, which more than any other one man he 
kept alive for the first few years of its existence. 
He was a good example of the old New England 
simplicity, something of which still characterises the 
Club — a little narrow, to be sure, but determined 
and energetic and clean. New England, like all 
America, has broadened much by its growing 
knowledge of the world in late years, but it has lost 
some good things that went with its old provincial 
innocence. Hew, prisca fides! 

Shortly before Mr. Rogers resigned, the Club 
joined the New England Rowing Association, 1 a 
body made up of various amateur clubs. Of this, 

1 The Association was formed in February or March, 1868. The 
Union Boat Club voted to join it on April 1st. 



78 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

J. S. Fay, Jr., of the Union Boat Club, was chosen 
a director. The Association had its first regatta on 
May 22nd, 1868. There was only one race — for 
single sculls — which was advertised * for the Cham- 
pionship of the Charles River.' Among the eight 
entries, three from Portland and the rest from Bos- 
ton, there were three from the Union Boat Club — 
William Appleton, Jr., J. S. Fay, Jr., and John 
Tyler, Jr. Tyler came in first, and so won the gold 
medal of the Association. Fay was second. Walter 
Brown, a famous sculler, was third. It was noted 
with interest by oarsmen on this occasion that Tyler 
and Fay used paper shells, which had appeared in 
Boston waters this season for the first time. 1 

A craft even stranger than a paper shell was to 
be associated with the Club the next year, '69 — 
namely, a canoe. It was a Rob Roy belonging 
to C. Linzee Tilden, who had just entered the Club 
and who made the first canoe trip logged on its 
books. A trip it was, too, to put in the shade any 
made by the most venturesome of canoemen to-day; 
for it was from Albany, New York, to Havre-de- 
Grace, Maryland, by the Erie Canal to Montezuma, 
New York, Cayuga and Seneca Canals, Seneca Lake, 
and Chemung Canal to Elmira, and then the Che- 
mung River and the Susquehanna to Havre-de-Grace. 
The working time was nineteen days; the total dis- 
tance, six hundred and twenty-five miles ; the average 
per day, thirty-three and one-nineteenth miles. 
1 L. S. King's Sketch of the Club in the Sixties, p. 15. 



TRANSFORMATION 79 

Later that same year another canoeman, E. 
T. Wilkinson, came into the Club. The next sum- 
mer in June he made a trip from Wilkesbarre to 
Havre-de-Grace in six days, joining Tilden, who 
started from Elmira and made the trip from 
there to Havre-de-Grace in ten days. Evidently 
Tilden found the Susquehanna a good canoeing 
stream. In July the two made another trip 
together, each in his own Rob Roy, from Burling- 
ton, Vermont, to New York. The time was nine 
days. 

The Club all the while was maintaining both its 
interest in the Fourth of July regattas and its tra- 
ditions of hospitality connected with them. Only 
once does it seem to have lapsed from these, and 
that was in 1867, when it voted that the boat-house 
on public days was to be for Club boats only. At 
the same time it voted that J. D. Parker, Jr., should 
confer with the City Committee on the Fourth of 
July regatta about accommodations for visitors. 
Perhaps increasing rowdyism at the City regattas 
was the cause of this action. At least such cause 
is suggested by a vote the next year on the 1st of 
July, requesting the Captain to take such measures 
as he thought proper to preserve order and decency 
in and about the boat-house on the Fourth. At 
the same meeting a committee was appointed to pro- 
cure accommodations for guests on the Fourth, and 
the Secretary was requested to confer with one of 
the City Committee about providing accommoda- 



80 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

tions for boats from a distance. There was clearly 
not room for these in the boat-house, for already 
in June the Club had voted that no berths should be 
let to persons not members of the Club. But the 
Captain was empowered to extend the hospitality of 
the Club at his discretion. So here was a return 
to the old hospital spirit that had partially 
ceased — doubtless with good cause — in the previ- 
ous year. 

For some time now, the Fourth of July regattas 
were not interesting from the point of view of the 
Union Boat Club; at least they brought it few new 
laurels. The most notable Club victory was in 
double sculls in '68, when Tyler and Fay were a good 
first. Otherwise Union boats generally had bad luck. 
Moreover, two of these Fourths, like some in recent 
years, were utterly unfit for rowing. In '66 there 
was such a strong northeast wind that of the seven 
four-oars entering, only two had a race; of the 
others, two did not start, and the remaining three 
merely went over the course and came in awash. 
The two boats that really got a race were both from 
St. John, New Brunswick. Built of white pine, they 
were quite short and very wide, so that the rough 
water troubled them but little. Their crews were 
said to be fishermen; and they astonished boating 
sharps, says Mr. King, 6 by smoking short, black 
clay pipes ' as they sat on the raft waiting to be 
called to the line. They had no dread that smoking 
would interfere with their endurance. 



TRANSFORMATION 81 

In '67 the condition of the river on the Fourth 
was even worse. Most of the boats merely struggled 
over the course in the heavy wind and sea; they 
could not be said to race. The climax came when 
the four-oars were rowing. Suddenly out of the 
northwest broke an exceptionally heavy squall with 
rain. Most of the racing boats were swamped and 
some of the boats with spectators, which had lined 
the northerly side of the course. The barge, Union, 
was quickly launched and manned, and did good 
service in picking up the people struggling in the 
water, which was none too warm. Though things 
looked dangerous for a while, every one got safely 
ashore. The crew of one of the racing shells were 
so grateful that they published a card of thanks in 
the papers the next day. 

The Fourth of July regatta was not the only pub- 
lic one in these years ; the Seventeenth of June re- 
gatta, which has but recently been discontinued, had 
just come into existence. It was then a Charles- 
town institution and was rowed on the Mystic. In 
'67 the Union Boat Club entered a four, of which 
apparently much was expected, for the Union, 
carrying seven passengers, rowed through the 
bridges to see the race, accompanied by the Ariadne, 
a four-oar, and several singles. To the disappoint- 
ment of the Club its competing four was third 
among five contestants. A year later, however, a 
scratch Union four on the Mystic felt fairly proud 
to come in a good third in the four-mile race, con- 



82 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

sidering that they had never rowed together before 
and that they were fouled twice on the way over the 
course. The same day, J. S. Fay, Jr., won the 
singles, defeating among others Ellis Ward, one of 
the redoubtable Ward brothers, of Cornwall, New 
York. 

The great event in Club rowing, meanwhile, was 
the race for the Championship Cup. J. D. Parker, 
Jr., the able sculler, and now something of a Club 
veteran, was the prime mover in this. He got money 
subscribed for purchasing the Cup, and he proposed 
the rules to govern the Cup Races, which were 
adopted by the Club in September, 1866. They 
allowed various races for the Cup each year, and 
provided that any member holding it against all chal- 
lengers for two consecutive years should have it for 
his own property. These rules considerably modi- 
fied are still in force. 

Already the first race for the Cup had been rowed 
on the 7th of the preceding May. It was won 
by E. B. Robins, who had joined the Club the previous 
month and had become immediately one of its most 
active and enthusiastic members, as he has been ever 
since. The distance was two miles, one out and 
return; and the time was nineteen minutes. L. S. 
King, another zealous young member, who came into 
the Club in November, '65, was second in nineteen 
minutes and ten seconds. Of the other two entries, 
one ' in a boat designated as a lap-shell was lost 
somewhere on the course,' and the other, ' who at- 



TRANSFORMATION 83 

tempted to use the ancient Toothpick . . . sank with 
her soon after leaving the starting line.' * 

Now and then crews or individuals within the Club 
would race for the mere fun of the thing. For in- 
stance, a race was got up in October, '67, 2 between 
Evadne, a six-oar, and UHirondelle, a four-oar. It 
proved a walk-over for the six, according to the log, 
which must have been written by one of the winning 
crew. ' Evadne led from the start and came in a long 
way ahead in 15.10. The start of the Evadne was 
without exception the handsomest . . . ever made in 
the U. S. by a six-oared boat. At the word " go " 
the six oars dipped into the water as one, and the 
old boat showed a good length ahead before the other 
boat seemed to be started. She continued to widen 
the distance throughout the race and came in 1% 
miles ahead.' 

Then there were still other races besides the public 
ones in Boston waters and the private regattas within 
the Club. For instance, of even more importance to 
the Club because of the fame it brought than that 
single-scull race for the championship of the Charles, 
in which Tyler beat the well-known oarsman, Walter 
Brown, was another in which the same two contested 
with similar result. This was rowed on the Schuyl- 
kill, and Philadelphia and New York as well as Bos- 
ton papers gave long accounts of it. The log, written 
by either the Secretary or the Lieutenant of the time, 
is as follows : 3 

1 L. S. King's Sketch of the Club in the Sixties. 

2 October 3. 3 June 18, 1868. 



84 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

' Over the Schuylkill course at Philadelphia. 
In the 3 mile race with Brown, in which race 
Brown was beaten making the 2nd time that this 
oarsman, called the Champion of America, has 
been beaten by Mr. Tyler, the time made by 
Tyler was 21 57%. Brown 4 sees, behind. 
Tyler's time is better than Jo. Fay's two mile 
at Charlestown, 17th, though Fay was not 
pushed and Tyler was.' 

And still the two old customs were maintained of 
Fast Day and moonlight excursions. As previously, 
the Fast Day row was preparatory to a midday din- 
ner at some hotel near tide-water, at which repast 
plans for the rowing season were discussed enthusi- 
astically. The hotel remained, as by some unwritten 
law it early became, the Charles River Hotel in 
Brighton. In the autumn moonlight excursion, the 
goal was apt to be more distant, often Taft's Hotel 
at Point Shirley; and on two or three of these ex- 
cursions, as has been recorded, ladies honored the 
Club by becoming its guests. Luckily the seaman- 
ship of the Boat Club was better now than on that 
ignominious occasion in the second year of its exist- 
ence, when through the thoughtlessness of its mar- 
iners, the fair guests narrowly escaped immersion in 
the Charles. 

Nor were these ladies' parties, so unfortunately 
infrequent, the only signs of gallantry displayed by 
members of the Boat Club. The logs show that the 
doughty oarsmen more than once attracted the atten- 
tion of fair and sometimes flirtatious ones, whether 



TRANSFORMATION 85 

on bank or bridge, as they rowed by — alas ! but a 
fleeting apparition of manly strength, and so the 
acquaintance was correspondingly fleeting. As well 
perhaps that it was, for one entry in the log sug- 
gests that had the acquaintance been prolonged, it 
might have proved disappointing. It was a Sun- 
day morning in April, and the valiant tars of 'a 
double and two singles had rowed up to Brighton 
to see the devastation of a recent large fire, and 
beached their boats while they viewed the ruins. 
' On returning . . . found some beautiful young 
damsels rocking in the boats; on requesting them 
to desist, were greeted with very saucy answers, 
but our gallantry prevented our punishing them 
as they deserved.' * 

Occasionally, however, came happier days, when 
Fate more kindly gave a chance for longer and sweeter 
dalliance. Thus when six-oared Evadne rowed once 
to Hull, there were glad moments whose story one 
of her gallant crew logged as follows : 2 

' Arrived about 5%. Took the boat round 
the other side and went in swimming. Some of 
the boys got acquainted with some young ladies 
at the Mansion House, one of whom gave bow 
a note (throwing it out of the window at 5%) 
the next morning when we were about to start. 
Said note was a request to call again.' 

1 April 1, 1860. Had the date anything to do with the behavior 
of the ' damsels ' ? 

2 August 11 and 12, 1867. 



86 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

But men, and especially seamen, have notoriously 
been deceivers ever, one foot in sea and one on shore, 
to one thing constant never. The log of the Union 
Boat Club at least does not record that the eyes of 
those young ladies in the Mansion House gazing 
Bostonwards, ever saw six stalwart oarsmen driving 
the Evadne towards the shore of Hull. Nor is there 
a hint that ' bow,' stealing away from his fellows, 
ever cleft the waters of the harbor in a single to 
greet again the lady of the note. 

And then there was ' Nellie,' who suffered a similar 
fate, though with some consolation later, if Boat 
Club logs be true. On the fair Sabbath morn of 
June 14th, 1868, had Nellie been watching at the 
right moment, she might have seen Marguerite ap- 
proaching, escorted by two sun-burned and lightly 
clad young gentlemen; nor was there occasion for 
Nellie to feel the least qualm of jealousy, for Mar- 
guerite was only a double wherry. But Marguerite's 
escorts shall tell their own story. 

' Sunday. 

6 Marguerite to Point Shirley. Left house at 
11 a. m. Strong tide running out. Reached 
Point S. at 11%. Went in swimming, the water 
was very cold. Had dinner at l 1 /^. Nellie 
waited upon us. Nellie is a pretty girl. The 
house looks the same as ever, perhaps a little 
fresh on account of its spring cleaning. Nellie 
said she was from Lawrence. Mr. Taft was 
very glad to see us. We had an excellent din- 
ner & a bottle of wine.' (Here some mocking 



TRANSFORMATION 87 

fellow oarsman, looking over the log, saw fit to 
write in the margin — ' Query as to number of 
bottles. Read log.' Without attending to this 
impertinence we will read the log further.) 

' Nellie said it was kind of lonesome down 
there, but we told her we would call again. She 
seemed to brighten up a little when Mr. L. said 
this. Mr. L. thinks he will visit Pt. Shirley 
again. . . . 

' We left the Point about 3% p. m. Did not 
see Nellie again. We reached the boat house 
at 4*1/2 p. m. in good health & spirits.' 

These two care-free young pagans, whose record 
of a Sabbath is the above, have logged other pulls of 
theirs, but they have not put it in writing, at least, 
that they ever did * call again ' on Nellie. Either 
their log or their words, however, sent their friends 
to see her, and if we may judge from the chronicle of 
another Sunday, July 5th, Nellie in the three weeks 
since Marguerite's visit had become known to the 
whole Union Boat Club. Probably members did read 
the log faithfully in those days. At any rate, under 
date of ' July 4,' four able oarsmen have recorded : 
* Ariadne to Pt. Shirley. Went down Sat. eve. & re- 
turned Mond. July 6. Had a jolly time, especially 
with Nellie after business hours.' Which statement 
is confirmed in the story of July 5th, as told by one 
of a crew of six. 

' Evadne to Pt. Shirley to spend the day, it 
being very hot in the City and some of the Crew 
waiving their desire to go to church for the 



88 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

pleasure and benefit of the others. We found 
upon our arrival at the Point . . . that the 

crew of the Ariadne, consisting of Jack L 1 

(better known as Crime) J-hns-n, G-dd-rd, and 
Fl-gg, who left the Boat House on the night 
of the 4th, had arrived all right (we did not get 
the time) & that they were then on a fishing 
excursion. Disappointed in not finding these 
friends, we all sought Nellie, and notwithstand- 
ing the fact that there had been Crime in the 
house the preceding night, we found her looking 
well, and apparently unharmed, which gave us 
much satisfaction. The beverage cf the party 
seemed to be lemonade, of which they drank 
profusely. Went in swimming, & found the 
water much colder than the lemonade, and were 
unable to keep it on our stomachs for more than 
two or three minutes. 

' After waiting a long time for our friends 
to return from their fishing, and having been 
visited by a very severe thunder shower, which 
though refreshing was dangerous, we were 
pained to learn that their boat had been struck 
by lightning and suffered the loss of a mast 
at least. Knowing that the internal use of 
lightning for many years had failed to kill Jack, 
we doubted its ability when applied externally, 
and so composed ourselves with an evident 
struggle, and with good appetite we all sat 
down and did justice to a good dinner consist- 
ing of Chowder, Fish, Chicken, Ducks, Yellow- 
legs, etc., etc., Strawberries, Nuts, & after the 
latter, by way of dessert, Nellie & Coffee. 
After . . . smoking, singing, etc., & having wit- 

1 Not the 'Mr. L.' of June 14th. 



TRANSFORMATION 89 

nessed the return of our tried (they had been 
out under a very hot sun) friends, safe & sound, 
learning that the report of their mishap was 
erroneous, we left them at Pt. Shirley about 
7% p « M «> arriving here about 8^, having 
passed a very pleasant & cool day. 

1 Nellie was loath to have us leave her.' 

Then follow the names of Evadne's six oarsmen. 

With this entry, Nellie disappears from the records 
of the Union Boat Club, though there were other 
visits of Boat Club men to Point Shirley that year. 
Did she come back the next year, or did she go away 
to her native Lawrence? Or did Mr. Taft perhaps 
think her a little too gay and dismiss her inconti- 
nently? The log is mute. But the entries already 
quoted are enough to show that, save for Diones, 
Evadnes, Galateas, and other mythological ladies, 
and an occasional Marguerite or Coquette, who have 
been pulled with more or less violence about Boston 
Harbor and adjacent waters, no lady figures so much 
in the Club records as Nellie. Alas! however, and 
again alas ! for the inconstancy of man ! In the log 
of 1870, that is, only two years after these records of 
Nellie, we read, ' Whoever goes to Point Shirley, ask 
for Louise, the fairest of the fair ! ' 

Meanwhile the Club cabin still stood on its island 
in the Annisquam River, but by the late sixties it had 
become an object of tradition rather than of use. 
King, making a solitary trip in the lapstreak, Twi- 
light, to Newburyport in '66, took great interest in 



90 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

hunting up ' the much-talked-about Club house on 
Squam River.' Incidentally he records that ' a small 
bottle-nosed whale off Nahant, mackerel, sharks near 
Phillips Beach, seals that followed the boat, and stur- 
geon that attempted to get into it, in and near Ips- 
wich River, enlivened the trip.' 

Two years later, Baxter and Chamberlin — vet- 
eran oars now in the eyes of the youngsters of the 
Club — made what might be called a pilgrimage to 
the Squam River island which they had known so well 
in the days of the encampments. They pulled in two 
wherries over pretty rough water to Nahant, where 
they spent their first night. The next morning they 
put out on a placid summer sea for Gloucester, where 
they were lucky enough to meet at the Pavilion Hotel 
some ' demoiselles tres charmante,' according to their 
French in the log. About ten the next morning, to 
continue the story in their own words, ' we pulled up 
Squam river & visited the " Shanty," scenes of former 
exploits of the U.B.C. The house was safe & sound. 
We got in by the window & talked over the merry 
times we there used to have. Mr. C. pointed out the 
names of two young ladies, written by themselves 
upon the wall years gone by, & wondered if he should 
ever meet them again. By a wonderful chance he met 
them both next day & talked over the never-to-be- 
forgotten past. 

6 We took a swim & started back for Gloucester. 
The tide had run out, & Mr. Chamberlin being 
anxious to get back to town managed to get the boats 



TRANSFORMATION 91 

round & through the mud to deep water & reached 
the steamboat in time to come up to the city. Mr. 
Baxter remained at Gloucester, wishing to pull back 
to town & having plenty of time for that purpose. 
The pleasant and beautiful ladies at the hotel may 
have had some restraining influence, but we are bound 
to believe that the love of boating only retained him.' 

It was well that Baxter had plenty of time. Ac- 
cording to his log, the wind now blew steadily for 
twenty-four hours from the south or southwest, 
kicking up altogether too much sea for a wherry. 
Then there came a quiet morning, and he started for 
Boston about four ; but he was not to reach the city 
as he intended. ' Off Norman's Woe a thick fog set 
in, hiding everything a boat's length distant. Fol- 
lowed the shore the loom of which could occasionally 
see as far as Egg Isl. From here should have been 
obliged to leave the land. Baker's Isl. a mile or two 
off being the next point, seeing no prospect of the 
fog lifting, & believing it imprudent to point seaward 
without a compass, & the chances of breakfast being 
small, decided to return to Gloucester.' There Bax- 
ter arrived without accident, and he and his wherry 
went up to Boston by steamer. 

It was not only on long trips that untoward events 
sometimes occurred. King, Richards, Deblois, Hill, 
and Robins started one day in the Evadne for Cam- 
bridge, with such a strong east wind and tide that 
they found a very heavy sea once they got away 
from the shelter of Beacon Hill. A cold rain fell in- 



92 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

termittently. As the Evadne was going through the 
bridge just below the College boat-house, which then 
stood at the bend of the river below the present Weld 
Boat House, a collision with the piling carried away 
her outriggers on the port side. The crew with 
difficulty made the College boat-house, where they put 
up their craft. Then, discovering that by good for- 
tune one of them had money enough for car-fares, 
they returned to Boston in a horse-car — drenched 
to the skin and so cold that they did not much care 
whether or not they were decent objects to appear 
in a public conveyance. Probably they were not, 
for they were in only their scanty and not too clean 
rowing-clothes, capless, and two of them with noth- 
ing on their feet but old rowing-socks. 

There were many other long trips besides these 
which have been recorded. It was not uncommon for 
the Union and four- and six-oar lapstreaks to pull 
to Squantum, Hull, Point Shirley, or some other place 
down the harbor. Occasionally they went farther, to 
Nahant, perhaps, or even Swampscott. But such 
trips as those to Squam and beyond were rare. They 
were made, however, from time to time, and naturally 
logged, with more or less detail, by the complacent 
bold mariners on their safe return to the boat-house. 
Perhaps the most notable of these trips was that of 
Lambert and King in September, 1868. Starting 
from the boat-house one day at noon, they pulled in 
a double scull to Annisquam, which they reached 
about five. There they stayed a week, making vari- 



TRANSFORMATION 93 

ous excursions the while. On the 21st they rowed 
through Plum Island Creek to Newburyport, as King 
had done alone two years before. They kept on up 
the Merrimac to Haverhill, where they had dinner. 
Then they went on, pulling through the so-called 
' Rips,' which had not then been blown up, and 
reached Lawrence in eight hours and ten minutes 
from the time they left Squam. They were off for 
Lowell at half past six the next morning. A little 
way below Lowell, they had to get out and push the 
boat through rapids. By two portages they got their 
boat into the Concord River, and rowed up to Con- 
cord, which they made about seven in the evening. 
There they spent two nights. Then they put their 
boat in a freight car and took the train for Boston. 
At the draw of the Fitchburg Railroad they put the 
boat in the water again, but not to row to the boat- 
house till after they had pulled to Point Shirley for 
dinner. 

Seasons varied of old as they do now in regard to 
temperature, wind, and the other natural conditions 
that promote or discourage rowing. The spring of 
1868, for instance, was cold and backward. The 
rowing season was not opened till March 14th, when 
Robins, in those days, as in these, the most venture- 
some of early-spring oarsmen, and often too the last 
to put away his boat for the winter, 1 was the first 
man out on the water. For weeks there was not much 

1 The logs show that Mr. Robins has been the first out and the 
last in more than any other man in the Club. 



94 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

inducement to follow him. Snow fell when a crew 
were out on as late a day as the 27th of April. Yet 
more discouraging is the log for May 8th : ' Wind 
north & cold. Snowed hard during the morning.' 
Then follow twenty-five exclamation points, growing 
smaller and smaller, till the last is only two dots. 
The next year, on the contrary, there was warm 
weather early. Robins was out on the water on 
Washington's Birthday, but already Sargent had 
got out ahead of him on the previous day. 

One might go on a long time with extracts from the 
log which would be of some interest, but they would 
give no further information about the Club life than 
those already quoted. From them we can see well 
enough that in some of its customs, the Club had not 
changed so very much in the late sixties from the 
simple little rowing club of before the War. In its 
equipment and in the size of its membership, how- 
ever, it had changed radically. 

It was the increase in these which made inevitable 
important changes in both the quarters and the con- 
stitution of the Union Boat Club. Though one came 
about more quickly than the other, the Club for some 
years had been growing towards both. We have 
seen that on its union with the Shawmut Rowing Club 
in February, 1861, it adopted its fourth constitution. 
This served till the ratification of the present one in 
1870, having been in the meantime much amended. 
It is interesting to see in the amendments a general 
trend towards the constitution of to-day. With the 



TRANSFORMATION 95 

adoption of this constitution in the same year as the 
establishment of the Club in a new house on land of 
its own, the Club became substantially the organisa- 
tion which it was to remain for forty years. 

The first step from the constitution of 1861 
towards that of 1870 was taken only two months 
after the earlier one was adopted; it marked the 
beginning of changes in the manner of choosing mem- 
bers which have continued ever since. According to 
the earlier constitution, the officers of the Club, the 
■ President, Captain, and Lieutenant, and Secretary, 
who together with two other members shall consti- 
tute a Board of Directors,' had no more to say than 
any others in the election of new members, who were 
balloted on by the whole Club at the regular meet- 
ings, and had to be elected unanimously. There was 
no thought of an Election Committee, to decide the 
fate of proposed members, nor did such a committee 
come into existence officially till 1880; 1 yet already 
in April, '61, the Club had voted, without apparently 
intending any constitutional change, to have the Chair 
appoint a committee of three to consider and report 
on nominations for membership. That this committee 
was purely advisory is proved by the fact that sev- 
eral times favorable reports from it were reversed 
by vote of the Club. After a while the committee 
seems to have gone out of service, to be revived again 
in 9 66, but for once only. A year later, by vote of 
the Club, the Chair named three as a ' Committee on 

1 See Ch. VII, p. 183. 



96 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Elections ' — a name interesting because so close to 
that of the recent Election Committee. Still the com- 
mittee was a body of uncertain power. Meanwhile 
the Board of Directors seem to have exercised from 
time to time advisory power regarding candidates, 
and even on two occasions 1 to have elected new mem- 
bers at only a Directors' meeting without any re- 
quest for the approval of the Club. By a vote of 
July 1st, 1868, which was still not an amendment to 
the constitution, the Club made the powers of the 
Board of Directors as an Election Committee more 
definite than they had been. Any application for 
membership now must receive the approval of a ma- 
jority of the Directors. When the Board in 1870 
became the Executive Committee, they retained the 
duty of approving applications for membership be- 
fore giving them to the Club to ballot on. This duty 
the Executive Committee retained till the creation of 
the Committee on Elections. Meanwhile a candidate 
might be voted on only at the next regular meeting 
after that at which his name was proposed. This 
regulation, which had grown up gradually, was offi- 
cially fixed by the addition of a new article, XVI, to 
the constitution in 1866. 2 Names of candidates were 
not entered in a book kept for that purpose till 1878. 

1 November 1, 1865, when L. S. King was elected, and August, 
1867. The Directors did this under Article VI of the old constitution, 
which allowed them to "do all business that the Club might do; 
provided that the regular monthly meeting of the Club does not 
occur in time for the transaction of such business." 

2 Adopted June 6th and slightly amended November 7th. 



TRANSFORMATION 97 

Another matter that from time to time occupied 
the attention of the Club was the amount of the 
initiation fee. On May 1, 1861, it was raised from 
$10 to $20. In May of '65 the amendment of 1861 
was expunged, and the entrance fee made again 
only $10. This proved too low, for in 1868 1 it 
was once more raised to $20. The annual dues 
from 1861 up to 1868 were $20. From the begin- 
ning of that year they were made $25. 

The most important change in the constitution 
during these years was the creation of the office 
of Treasurer, in 1866, in order, as we have seen, 
to relieve the President of some of his responsibility. 
About a year later the office of Treasurer was united 
with that of Secretary; and in consideration of the 
double duty, the holder of the office was to be ex- 
empt from annual dues. G. W. Estabrook was the 
only man who ever held the double office, for within 
three months it was abolished, and after a return for 
nine months to the old custom of assigning the 
Treasurer's duties to the President, the Treasurer 
was created again. 

Since the constitution of '53, the Treasurer's 
books had been subject at all times to the inspec- 
tion of members of the Club. By a vote of the 
Club in 186 1, 2 it came to be the custom that he 
and the other officers should submit reports at stated 
times, whence the provision of the present constitu- 
tion that the Treasurer ' shall exhibit his accounts 
1 September 2. 2 June 5. 



98 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

at the annual meeting,' and that they shall always 
■ be open to the inspection of . . . the Executive 
Committee.' 

Other changes, whether actually amendments to 
the constitution or only made so virtually by some 
vote of the Club, are less important. Mention has 
already been made of the vote of 1869, 1 fixing the 
number of active members at one hundred — a large 
number compared with that of earlier years, which 
was still further increased within a twelvemonth to 
one hundred and fifty. Another step towards pres- 
ent conditions was an earlier vote of that year 2 
— that officers should be elected on the first 
Wednesday of March for a term of one year, in- 
stead of semi-annually as heretofore. And more and 
more the Board of Directors tended to do the actual 
work of the Club, subject always to the revision 
of the whole Club at its next meeting. With the 
increase of membership, this change was but natural ; 
of course there cannot be the individual participa- 
tion in government in a body of a hundred or over 
that may be in a body of twenty. Correspondingly, 
as greater power came to be conferred on the officers, 
less need was felt of frequent meetings. In December, 
'69, it was voted that the Directors at their dis- 
cretion might dispense with the regular monthly 
meetings from November to February, though one 
must be called if six members should request it in 
writing. 

1 June 2. 2 May 5. 



TRANSFORMATION 99 

It was voted at the same time that the Chair 
should appoint a committee of five to revise the 
constitution and report on its revision as soon as 
possible. The Chair accordingly appointed T. F. 
Edmands, E. N. Fenno, G. G. Crocker, A. G. Baxter, 
and H. B. Rice. They made their report in the 
following April, at that same meeting at which the 
limit of membership was raised from a hundred to a 
hundred and fifty. When the Club had gone into 
a committee of the whole to consider the report, 
Edmands, the chairman of the constitutional com- 
mittee, read the new constitution article by article. 
There was not much discussion; the committee of 
the whole voted acceptance. But since they had done 
so only as a committee and not as the Club, and 
since Edmands asked for time to make some changes, 
the Club did not formally ratify the new constitution 
till April 18th. Then at a meeting at the American 
House, with twenty-four members present, the Club 
voted to repeal the old constitution and accept the 
new. It voted also to repeal the old by-laws and 
accept new ones. Then, with proper formalities, it 
discharged the committee and gave them a vote 
of thanks. Evidently they deserved it. The con- 
stitution which they had framed was so satis- 
factory that its fame soon went abroad. Before 
the year was out, 1 the Executive Committee re- 
ceived a request, which they granted, from Messrs. 
Waters, Balch & Co., well-known builders of paper 
1 December 27, 1870. 



100 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

boats in Troy, New York, to use the constitution of 
the Club as a model for new clubs, and to print it 
for that purpose in their catalogue. 

This constitution, adopted April 18th, 1870, has 
served the Club ever since. 1 The rather bombastic 
preamble of the third and fourth constitutions was 
wisely dropped; in its place appeared as Article I 
a slight modification of the first article of the con- 
stitutions of 1851 and 1853. They had begun, ' This 
Club shall be denominated the Union Boat Club.' 
Now, for reasons that are obvious, the article read: 
' This organisation shall be called the Union Boat 
Club of Boston.' Then follow eight other articles, 
making nine in all. Taken together, they state sim- 
ply and clearly the name, object, and character of 
the Club, fix the number of members, the dues, and 
the officers, and explain the interest of members in 
the property of the Club, the agreement with the 
Trustees, and the method of amending the constitu- 
tion or repealing it. Article VIII, on the agree- 
ment with the Trustees, has become superfluous and 
been dropped. Article IX, providing for amend- 
ment or repeal, has been merged with the last 
article of the by-laws, which provides for their 
amendment or repeal. The other articles have all 
been amended. 

Only two months after the adoption of the new 
constitution, the Union Boat Club found itself for 

1 It has been variously amended, but the constitution itself is 
still in force. 



TRANSFORMATION 101 

the first time in a house on land of its own. Agita- 
tion for such a club-house had been active ever 
since the close of the War, when the new growth of 
the Club began. In September, '65, it was voted that 
the President and the Captain should enquire about 
the price of land and building material, and the ex- 
pediency of building a house on land owned by the 
Club itself. Though their report was not officially 
recorded, evidently they believed it expedient for the 
members of the Club to purchase land and have their 
own house, whenever they could afford to do so. 
The moment, however, did not seem suitable for such 
a purchase. The desire to have their own house be- 
came keener than ever when Mr. Braman came into 
a meeting on March 7th, 1866, to say that he had 
sold some of the land occupied by the Club, and that 
consequently they must vacate it as soon as possible. 
The result was the appointment of a committee of 
seven to provide suitable accommodations for that 
year and to make permanent provision for the future. 
Whatever they did, there is nothing further in the 
records about a new house till September 5th. Then 
Hill, Robins, Chamberlin, and Estabrook were ap- 
pointed to take active measures for getting one. 
But according to the report which they made in 
January, 1867, they believed it best not to buy then, 
but to make a lease with Mr. Braman of the Union 
and the Beacon houses — that is, the quarters then 
occupied — for either three or five years. With some 
difficulty, for Mr. Braman as years advanced grew 



102 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

more and more unwilling to commit himself to any 
agreement, the lease was finally executed. 1 

After all, such a lease was only a makeshift ; more 
and more the sentiment of the Club was for their 
own boat-house. On August 5th, 1868, another 
committee was appointed, this time consisting of 
five men, 2 to consider the feasibility of procuring 
land for a new house, with full powers to act. The 
following March the committee reported that they 
had conferred with Mr. Braman several times, but 
had not been able to agree upon a price. In April 
they reported again, saying that they had offered 
Mr. Braman $9000 for his land, but he wanted 
more, though he would make no proposition. Agree- 
ment seemed impossible. The committee asked to 
be discharged and were discharged. 

The death of Mr. Braman in the following sum- 
mer gave affairs a new turn, for it appeared that 
his heirs were willing to sell. Accordingly, a special 
meeting was called on October 4th, to consider a 
proposition from them to sell the land at three dol- 
lars a foot, with a right of way twenty feet wide from 
Pratt's Stable at the foot of Chestnut Street to the 
water-line. The Club voted to accept the proposi- 
tion; and a committee of five was appointed with 
power to effect a purchase. The money was to be 
raised in shares of a hundred dollars each, which 
later were made fifty dollars, for which only members 

1 The records do not state when the lease was executed, or whether 
it was for three or five years. 

2 Buckingham, Edmands, Adams, Baxter, and Rice. 



TRANSFORMATION 103 

of the Club might subscribe. Since not all were 
financially able to do so, those who could formed a 
stock company, called the Union Boat Club Asso- 
ciation, which was to buy the land and build the 
house, holding the property for the benefit of the 
Club, to which it was to be leased. At last a perma- 
nent home of the Boat Club was assured. 

As soon as possible, building began and went on 
rapidly. A sign that it had progressed well was 
a vote the next April authorising the President 
to buy a presiding-desk, table, second desk, and 
chairs, and such other furniture as he might deem 
necessary. By June 13th, 1870, the house was near 
enough to completion for the Executive Committee 
to have a meeting in it, which was the first use of 
the new Club House officially recorded. The next 
day, people were admitted to the roof to see a small 
regatta, for seats had been built on the roof, which 
sloped at a convenient angle and commanded a good 
view up the river. At the large regatta, however, 
on the 17th, it was deemed unwise to admit spec- 
tators to the roof, since to do so * would interfere 
with the workmen.' But by the end of June the 
house seems to have been virtually finished, for it 
was voted to sell five hundred tickets to the roof for 
the Fourth of July regatta. The price, put first at 
a dollar, was changed five days later to fifty cents. 
So far as there was any formal house-warming of 
the Club, it was this Fourth of July regatta. 

Housed now on an ampler scale than ever before, 



104 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the Club felt the need of a janitor; and so at the 
end of June, one was hired at forty dollars a month. 
He was the first janitor engaged by the Club, al- 
though a year before the Captain had been author- 
ised to employ one on trial at a salary not exceed- 
ing thirty dollars a month. He appears not to 
have done so. 

In order to make the new Club House complete, 
there was needed now only the equipment of the 
gymnasium. This was voted in July, 1870, as 
follows : 

' Rowing-weights, 5 or 6 50-lb. wts. accord- 
ing to room. 
Parallel Bars, 1 pair. 
Double weights, 2, 14 lb. each; 1, 20 lb; 

1, 30 lb. 

Indian Clubs, 1 pair, 5 lb. each; 4, 12 lb. 

Dumb-bells, 2, 12 lb. ; 2, 16 lb. ; 2, 20 lb. ; 

2, 30 lb. ; 2, 40 lb. ; 1, 50 lb. ; 1, 75 lb. 
Trapeze, 1. 

Upright bars, 1 pair.' 

With the installation of this apparatus, the new 
home of the Club was finished. It was the house 
that most of us have known well — the wooden 
building painted brown at the foot of Chestnut 
Street on the site of the present structure of brick 
and stone. Unpretentious it was, both within and 
without — two stories and a half high, with two 
doors of ordinary size on Chestnut Street, and win- 
dows above them; and three great doors opening 



TRANSFORMATION 105 

on runways on the water side, and above them, the 
length of the house, a balcony on which you might 
step out through any one of seven large windows. 
On the ground floor were two dingy rooms for stor- 
ing boats, and in the early days, the bath-room. 
This was later moved to the floor above, where were 
also the lockers, the gymnasium — with a good hand- 
ball court subsequently in one corner of it — and the 
reading-room. Draughty and barn-like the house 
was in winter, and it always looked dusty and dingy, 
but in summer it seemed delightfully cool and spa- 
cious ; it was as restful on a warm day, as if one 
were far from town, to sit on the balcony at high 
tide, the southwest breeze cooled by blowing the 
length of the Basin and the water lapping directly 
underneath. The City of Boston has profited im- 
mensely by the construction of the Charles River 
Embankment, but the resultant stretches of turf, 
driveway, hard granolithic path, and ugly iron rail- 
ing, have banished forever the old seaside charm of 
the Union Boat Club. 

With the occupation of this house of its own in 
1870, the Club ended the first period of its life. 
The change was complete from the little old-fashioned 
organisation of far from skilled oarsmen, to a fairly 
large club in which were several of the ablest oars- 
men in New England. Starting with twelve members 
in 1851, the Club shrank to eight (which for some 
time in '53 was the limit of membership), from which 
number it grew again — slowly before the War, 



106 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

rapidly afterwards — till in 1870 the limit of mem- 
bership was a hundred and fifty. Instead of three 
officers — Treasurer, Coxswain, and Secretary — 
the Club had nine. 

Other changes were proportionate. The whole 
navy of the Club in '51 had been one heavy gig. 
In '70 there were seventeen boats, including various 
racing craft from an eight to a single. 1 Also 
canoes, Rob Roys to be sure, were to be found in 
the boat-house, though they were private property, 
for the Club was not yet persuaded of the wisdom 
of keeping canoes for common use. The first consti- 
tution had given way to a second in '53; that to a 
third in '57; and that to a fourth in '61, which 
lasted nine years. Then in '70 came the constitution 
which, with some amendments, has served forty years 
and seems likely to do so for years to come. And 

1 The navy of the Club in 1870 was as follows: 
Union, 8-oar barge 
Argo, 8-oar shell 
Evadne, 6-oar lapstreak 
Voluta, 4-oar shell 
Glaucus, 4-oar lapstreak 
Triton, 4-oar lapstreak 
Ariadne, 4-oar lapstreak 
Sabrina, Double scull lapstreak 
Haidee, Double scull lapstreak 
Lotus, Single scull lapstreak 
Curlew, Single scull lapstreak 
Petrel, Single scull lapstreak 
Bittern, Single scull lapstreak 
Ibis, Single scull lapstreak 
Barnacle, Single scull lapstreak 
Sophia, Gig 
Columba, Randan gig 



TRANSFORMATION 107 

lastly, from one room, which the members took turns 
week by week in cleaning — a room hired in Braman's 
Bath Building near the corner of Chestnut Street and 
the present Brimmer Street — the quarters of the 
Club had grown, as it took in new members, and had 
been moved, as Mr. Braman made new land out of his 
tide-covered flats, till now they filled a whole house, 
built for the purpose, on good solid land at the ex- 
tremity of those former flats, with the title held by 
certain members of the Club, styled officially the 
Union Boat Club Association. 



VI 
THE EVEN TENOR 

rpHOUGH the years from 1851 to 1870 make less 
■*• than a third of the life of the Union Boat Club, 
they were years of such change that they seem the 
most important part of its history. By comparison, 
subsequent years are uneventful except in three mat- 
ters — the growth of canoeing, the introduction of 
handball, and the changes in the Charles River 
brought about by the construction of the embank- 
ment and the dam. The effect of these last must 
be far-reaching. They have necessitated changes in 
the constitution of the Club. They have left its land 
high and dry, cut off from the water by the embank- 
ment at its widest point. And they have trans- 
formed the Charles from a salt river, with a strong 
tide of eight or ten feet, into a fresh-water lake of 
uniform level. But they are still too recent to 
permit much more than conjecture as to their per- 
manent effect. 

Except for these more or less radical changes, 
the Club has grown naturally and almost imper- 
ceptibly from what it was in 1870, with its new 
house and new constitution. Then, with a hundred 

108 



THE EVEN TENOR 109 

and fifty active members, 1 it was no longer a little 
club; though its membership has since doubled, still 
three hundred do not make a very large club. So 
with other changes ; always excepting the three 
named, they have been in directions already apparent 
by 1870. And perhaps one of the three should be 
partially excepted. It might be said that Linzee 
Tilden's canoe trip in 1869 from Albany to Havre- 
de-Grace was prophetic of the subsequent interest in 
canoeing. In fact it might even be said that hand- 
ball is but the natural outgrowth of early attempts 
to make winter exercise in the Club popular. 

Of lesser novelties, one of the first which the new 
house involved was the janitor. Apart from the 
Club quarters being now too large for the members 
themselves to take care of in turn, that old simple 
method would not have been consistent with the new 
dignity of the Club, established on land and in a 
house of its very own. And so there came the vote 
of the 23d of June, 1870, to employ Alexander Mc- 
Cormick 2 as j anitor at a salary of forty dollars a 
month. He was somewhat crotchety and too domi- 
neering for his relations with the Executive Commit- 
tee to be invariably pleasant, but he served the Club 
loyally for many years. Partly because of his 
crotchets, partly because of the Executive Commit- 
tee's uncertainty just what to do with their new ac- 
quisition, ' Old Aleck,' as older members of the Club 

1 There were then as now also honorary members. 

2 The first entry of his name is incorrectly Cormick. 



110 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

have affectionately called him, figures more in its 
records than all the other janitors put together. 

Alone among them, he seems to have been en- 
trusted with a kind of police duty. At least the 
Executive Committee voted a fortnight after his 
appointment that he should be sent to members in 
arrears to collect the amounts due. If a member 
under these circumstances refused to pay, a special 
meeting of the Club should be held for his expulsion. 
But for this function of the janitorship, which might 
have made the office even more august and awful 
than it normally was during Aleck's tenure, there 
was destined to be no growth. Since no details are 
recorded of any encounter between the bailiff-janitor 
and a delinquent member, it is fair to presume that 
none such ever took place. 

Perhaps it was a wish to enhance the dignity of 
this semi-constable, perhaps it was only humani- 
tarian motives, that led to a vote on the twenty- 
seventh of December to provide a carpet for the 
janitor's room — he lived in the Club House — as a 
belated Christmas present, and also to make sundry 
other provisions, unnecessary to name, for his physi- 
cal well-being. Previous to this vote, he must have 
been uncomfortable enough. 

Despite the comfort and dignity thus given him, 

McCormick's career as janitor was destined to be 

checkered. He was complained of in a letter to the 

Executive Committee in 1871 x for refusing to lend 

1 May 16. 



THE EVEN TENOR 111 

a Club boat for the rescue of a drowning man. 
Though investigation showed the complainants to 
blame, because they had demanded admittance to the 
Club House in a way calculated to make Aleck sus- 
pect their veracity, still his inclination to high-hand- 
edness probably played some part in his refusal. 
Six years later, at least, 1 this caused him to remon- 
strate in language both disrespectful and profane 
with certain gentlemen, members of the Club, for 
singing in the Club House one evening as late as 
eleven. The Executive Committee voted Aleck's 
discharge. But for some reason the order seems 
not to have been carried out, and, early in June, 
the Club voted, apparently as a peace-offering, to 
make McCormick a present of the Barnacle. This 
was not such a princely gift after all, for it had 
been voted a month earlier to sell her, but no pur- 
chaser could be found. 

Though McCormick had a new uniform voted him 
that summer and a three weeks' vacation in Novem- 
ber, still he did not so comport himself as to give 
general satisfaction. The next year 2 it was thought 
* desirable to have a new j anitor.' Votes speedily 
followed to put the room of the out-going janitor 
into proper condition for its new occupant and also 
to give the new one ' a blue reefer, trousers, cap, and 
two flannel shirts.' 

In spite of these and other emoluments, however, 
McCormick's successors, if more tractable than he, 

1 May, 1877. 2 September, 1878. 



112 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

were less efficient ; and so the day x came when the 
Captain was instructed to reengage Aleck at a price 
not exceeding his old pay. Thus the first janitor of 
the Boat Club, after a deposition of nearly four 
years, was restored to full power. And three years 
later, his brother, William McCormick, was engaged 
as his assistant. 

One good-natured gibe at Aleck occurs in the log 
for November 7th, 1886, which records the setting 
forth of three courageous members of the Club in 
a life-boat * after the Daisy' which had dragged her 
anchor before a heavy westerly wind and sea. ' The 
best service was done by one on the float — Clarke 
— who met the cold and wet mariners with rope and 
flask in hand. No officers on deck, except Aleck, and 
he stayed there.' There is a suggestion in a vote of 
November 13th, 1893, that William as well as his 
brother was sometimes difficult to manage, for the 
Executive Committee were requested not only ' to 
furnish the janitors with suitable uniforms ' but also 
to ' compel them to wear them.' But it was with 
sincere sorrow that the President announced at the 
same meeting that Aleck McCormick had resigned, 
the janitor of the Club * for so many years.' His 
health was breaking, and he died in 1895. At the 
regular November meeting of that year, the Presi- 
dent referred with much feeling to the death of old 
Aleck, saying that his funeral had taken place from 
the Club House, and that many members had been 
1 March, 1882. 



THE EVEN TENOR 113 

present. And Dr. Vickery, who spoke of seeing 
Aleck at the hospital in his illness, said ■ he thought 
that all would have forgiven him his occasional cross- 
ness, had they been aware how great a sufferer he 
must have been in the last years of his life.' 

At the same meeting the President spoke of the 
difficulty of the Executive Committee in finding a 
suitable man to serve with William. There had been 
four changes within a year. But James Flannery 
at last was found, who has worked faithfully and 
efficiently for the Club now more than seventeen 
years. He has been the head janitor since William's 
retirement. 

That event occurred in 1903, though for several 
years * men had spoken of him as ' our old janitor 
of faithful service ' in a way to suggest that he was 
showing his age. Then at the April meeting in 1903 
came the statement from the Captain that William 
unfortunately seemed to have outlived his usefulness. 
It was, moreover, his wish to resign, that he might 
live quietly in a little house which he owned at South 
Weymouth. 

No less loyal to the Club than his two prede- 
cessors, James Flannery has been generally esteemed 
by the members. He has been assisted in recent 
years by George, then by Daniel Mahoney, and 
finally by Joseph Kneeland. When the new Club 
House was opened in January, 1910, it became evi- 
dent that it would require a special janitor, and so 
1 See records of meeting of November 8, 1897. 



114 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Thomas Scanlan was put in charge of it, like James, 
devoted to the interests of the Club. Thus the Club 
has got so far from the simple nineteen years when 
it had no janitor at all, that now it has three. 
Though it has had vicissitudes in dealing with some 
transitory assistant janitors, it has been fortunate 
in those who have served it for any length of time. 

A feeling for discipline in the early seventies shows 
itself in other ways than in the vote making the 
janitor a police officer. At least one member came 
near expulsion, not only because he had violated a 
by-law 1 by leaving his boat on the raft instead of 
seeing it properly housed, but also because in dis- 
obedience to another 2 he had gone out rowing one 
hot afternoon without his shirt. Since he had not 
replied to the President's letter of remonstrance, the 
Club, after the Executive Committee had duly ' pub- 
lished his misdemeanor,' requested him to resign. 3 
Three weeks later the action was reconsidered on 
receipt of an apology from the guilty party, ex- 
plaining satisfactorily his failure to answer the 
President's letter. He was let off with the admoni- 
tion to read the constitution and the by-laws 
carefully. 

There seems also to have been more modesty in 
those days than now. In June, 1871, the Executive 
Committee voted that ' members be forbidden to bathe 
from the rafts.' No exception was made even for 

1 XXVIII of the present by-laws. 

2 XXX of the present by-laws. 3 September 5, 1870. 



THE EVEN TENOR 115 

the amplest bathing-suit. This vote, apparently 
never repealed, has not, during the recollection of 
most active members, been honored conspicuously 
in the observance. Nor does the present interest 
of strollers along the Embankment in natatory 
efforts of the Boat Club suggest that observance is 
necessary in deference to public opinion. 

In the seventies, too, much attention was paid 
to the minutiae of uniform. Votes, like that of 
December 6th, 1878, reminiscent of those of the 
fifties and sixties, are continually found in the 
records, namely, that ' the uniform of the Club be 
a navy blue reefer, trousers, and cap; and a navy 
blue and white jersey.' Nearly every year saw some 
minor change in the uniform till 1882, when the 
question seems to have been settled by the under- 
standing 1 that it ' rested with the Executive Com- 
mittee ... to prescribe what the uniforms should 
be.' Since then discussions of uniforms do not figure 
in the records. 

More sensible to-day seem the propositions from 
time to time for making the club-house comfortable. 
Soon after the new building was occupied, the Presi- 
dent was authorised to purchase stoves for it at his 
discretion. But the house was always hard to warm. 
More stoves had to be bought, ceilings and walls 
were variously sheathed, and double windows put on. 
As for bathing facilities, though a vote of 1877 
sanctioned a new tub and a shower bath, there seems 

1 Annual meeting, November 13. 



116 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

to have been no good plumbing for the first ten 
years. The bath-room, which remained on the 
ground floor in the southwest corner, was much 
smaller than the one later put in at the head of the 
stairs in the northeast corner. Nor were there Club 
towels in those days. Each member supplied his 
own till the later eighties, when an experimental 
appropriation was made for buying towels. In 1891 
this became permanent. The Club was equally slow 
in sanctioning the convenience of a telephone. 
Though the Executive Committee were instructed in 
1891 to consider putting one in, they did not decide 
to do so till 1899. Meanwhile the equipment of the 
Gymnasium had been properly cared for, as had also 
the furnishing of the house, and the supplying of the 
reading-room with newspapers and magazines. Occa- 
sionally there is record of a gift from some gener- 
ously inclined member of the Club, as of a spy-glass 
from H. W. Preston in 1873, or of a picture or a 
contribution to some periodical. There is no record 
of the refusal of any gift. 

As you looked from the Club floats up the river 
in the early seventies, conditions were not so very 
different from what they had been twenty years 
before. True, the houses along 6 the mill-dam ' had 
stretched out to Dartmouth Street, and most of the 
Back Bay south of Beacon Street had been filled in. 
But you could still row up Muddy River to Brook- 
line Avenue, or through the marshes to the mouth 
of Stony Brook. It was to be still nearly twenty 



THE EVEN TENOR 117 

years before the Harvard Bridge should break the 
expanse of the Basin to the west, and almost as 
long before stone embankments should keep the flood 
tides from washing over the Cambridge marshes to 
the Grand Junction Railway. And though the river 
was not so clean as when the Boat Club first knew 
it, for many summers yet oarsmen were to find the 
Charles an agreeable stream for swimming. 

The favorite swimming-places were 6 Sugar Loaf ' 
and ' Horse Shoe.' The former was ' a steep little 
hill of yellow gravel on the southwest side of the 
Charles River, above the Longwood Bridge, between 
the river and the Brighton Road. The hill originally 
dropped sharply to the river, but was cut away 
enough to permit ' the Boston and Albany Railroad 
to pass, and between the track and the water was 
a good bank for bathing. ' Opposite, on the Cam- 
bridge shore,' that is, at the lower end of the present 
Cambridge bathing-beach, ' stood the old powder 
magazine and wharf,' a tempting objective point for 
strong swimmers. * Sugar Loaf was finally wholly 
removed to help fill the Back Bay.' * 

t Horse Shoe, probably so named from the large 
numbers of horse-shoe crabs there to be found, was 
situated on the Cambridge marshes, near old Fort 
Washington.' For years now it has been * buried 
deeply under gravel filling behind the stone retaining 
wall. This was the more popular bathing place be- 
cause of its nearer location, and the older volumes 

1 W. S. Eaton's Sketch of the Club, 1874-84. 



118 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

of the Club log-books bear the frequent entry of 
" Horse Shoe and swim." ' * 

The dates of the first and last swims of a given 
year vary considerably, both because of the natural 
variation in seasons and because there was never a 
rule for logging swims as there has always been for 
logging rows. In 1875 the first record of ' Horse 
Shoe and swim ' came as late as June 25th ; the last 
was September 17th : * Thetis? with four men, ' up 
river and swim.' In 1877 one hardy man recorded 
a swim on the 20th of May, pretty early when one 
reflects that it was sea-water in the Charles then, 
and that sea-water north of Cape Cod is seldom in- 
viting for a dip before the middle of June. There 
is even one record of ' Horse Shoe ' on the 20th of 
April. 2 But one cannot help doubting whether this 
meant a swim. 

At times men sought their swimming farther away 
than the Charles River, as frequently at Point Shir- 
ley. Once at least there is record of what might be 
called a swimming party there, when on May 30th, 
1877, the Union, two singles, and one double wherry 
went to Point Shirley for ' dinner and swim.' And 
sometimes the log has suggestions of involuntary 
swims, as on June 8th, 1877 : 6 Water between draw- 
bridge and mud flat a poor place to take a bath. 
/ have been there. 9 The vogue of involuntary swims 
increased considerably in 1910 with the introduction 
of sailing-canoes. 

1 W. S. Eaton. 2 1880. 



THE EVEN TENOR 119 

From the early eighties, ' Horse Shoe ' ceases to 
be mentioned in the log-book. In fact mention of any 
swimming becomes subsequently infrequent — partly 
because few places were left for it in the river and 
partly because men more and more got out of the 
way of logging swims. It is still the custom not to 
log them, but with the recent purifying of the 
Charles, swims have become usual again. By the 
present rules, however, of the Metropolitan Park 
Commission, they are permitted now only at certain 
places, of which fortunately the Club float is one. 

The date of the first row, because always recorded, 
gives more information about the variation of sea- 
sons than the date of the first swim. From these 
and other records, it is apparent that years have 
differed widely in weather. There have been open 
winters and hard winters, late springs and early 
springs, and now and then a summer so windy and 
rainy as to lessen the rowing appreciably. 

' The winter of 1874-75 was so . . . cold that, in 
spite of the . . . tide, the whole basin froze over 
and heavy ice extended all the way up the river in 
close contact with all piers and walls, so that pas- 
sage between it and the shore was easy and one 
could skate, as several members did, from the boat- 
house to Watertown and beyond. It was practicable 
even to skate through the draw-ways of the bridges. 
. . . Rain water frozen on the surface of the river 
ice made a fine surface for skating which was en- 
joyed for several weeks by large numbers of people. 



120 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

' On February 22, 1875, there were many horses 
and sleighs on the frozen river basin as well as 
upon many parts of Boston Harbor.' 1 

Improving their opportunity, * certain enterpris- 
ing members of the Club constructed an ice-boat 
which was a novelty on Charles River and was much 
enjoyed by them.' 2 

The Club likewise took advantage of the heavy 
ice to make a careful survey of the rowing courses. 
Three members 3 surveyed the mile and the mile and 
a half courses, ' establishing ranges for their verifi- 
cations, and measured the course from Longwood 
Bridge to the boat-house, the finish-line being the 
line of the face of the wall bounding the estate on 
the west side of Otter Street. 

' This latter course had always been called two 
miles, but was found to measure one mile and 4500 
feet, or 1.85 miles. The quarter-mile and half-mile 
points were marked on the wall with paint.' 4 

In 1885 cold weather lasted so long that no boat 
got out before March 29th. And in 1903-04 the 
last bit of blue water for a long time was seen about 
Christmas. After that ice locked the river fast for 
nearly three months. 

In 1887 the winter was unusually open. On 
January 30th three men in the America rowed six 
miles, to ' East Boston and up river.' Men were 

i W. S. Eaton's Sketch of the Club, 1874-84. 

2 Ibid. 

3 George S. Rice, Charles H. Williams, and William S. Eaton, Jr. 

4 W. S. Eaton. 



THE EVEN TENOR 121 

out again on five days in February. In all, despite 
1 floating ice,' which is mentioned in nearly every 
entry, there are fourteen rows logged before March, 
an unusually large number, though one or two pulls 
before March are recorded in most years. Again, 
1889 had an unusually long rowing season; there 
was rowing on ten days in January, four in Febru- 
ary, and on six days after the rafts were taken up 
on December 2d. The next season opened soon after, 
with seven days' rowing in January and seven more 
in February. 1894 and 1897 likewise saw seasons 
of rowing from January till near Christmas. Occa- 
sionally there is a solitary midwinter entry, like that 
of E. B. Robins, who on the 2d of January, 1876, 
pulled four miles up river and recorded 6 no signs of 
ice anywhere.' With no entries near, either before 
or after, one is puzzled whether to call this the 
closing row of one season or the opening row of the 
next. 

1888 saw one of the occasional seasons when wind 
and rain make possible less rowing than usual. Simi- 
larly the log explains a small mileage in 1895 as due 
to bad weather for the greater part of the summer. 
And many years have seen strange freaks of weather. 
Anyone who was in Boston on the 5th of July, 1909, 
the day of the City regatta — for the Fourth had 
fallen on Sunday — will remember not only that 
a northwest gale roughened the Charles so that in 
the eight-oared race three or four crews were 
swamped, with the sad result that one of the St. 



122 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Alphonsus crew was drowned, but also that the tem- 
perature was so low that it was uncomfortable to 
sit in the shade without an overcoat. On September 
28th, 1873, on the other hand, some sweltering indi- 
vidual wrote in the log, * Hot as — at Boat House. 
At 5.30 p.m., thermometer was 82° in the shade.' 
Another heated oarsman recorded on March 26th, 
1903, that passing Thompson's Spa at 4 P.M. he had 
seen the thermometer 75° in the shade. In 1882, 
though, there was a brisk snow-storm on the 16th of 
March. In 1890, on March 19th and 20th, there 
was a driving snow-storm and sleigh-bells sounded 
from the streets and bridges. And in 1887, when 
the rafts were towed away for the winter on Decem- 
ber 2d, the log records ' very cold weather, ther- 
mometer marking yesterday morning 7° above 0.' 

In tides, also, there have been considerable varia- 
tions. 1898 saw two, one in January and the other 
in November, each of which the log called, ' highest 
tide on record.' But since the construction of the 
Charles River Dam, the Boat Club has had no 
more chance to be interested in the phenomenon of 
tides. 

The craft in which Union oarsmen have ploughed 
the waters have been of about the same nature ever 
since the Club got into its own house. Though 
* Boat Club ' does not mean necessarily a rowing 
club, that is what the Union Boat Club has been. 
Sailing has never held great favor, though almost 
always the Club has owned some sort of a sail-boat. 



THE EVEN TENOR 123 

In 1873, to be sure, the motion was lost that the 
1 Executive Committee be requested to purchase a 
sail-boat for the use of the Club '; but in 1886 the 
Daisy was riding at anchor off the Club floats, if not 
occasionally moving over the water under the guid- 
ance of Club skippers. At least in that year the log 
says that she sailed one day in May up to Long- 
wood — two whole miles ; and in November it says 
that she dragged her anchor, but that was not under 
the guidance of club skippers. But though this 
Daisy did spend most of her time, as it were, blush- 
ing unseen, the abstract idea of sailing was still pop- 
ular with the Club. It was voted at the annual meet- 
ing of November, 1893, that the Executive Committee 
should purchase two sailing dories. The next April, 
it was reported that the sailing dories would be 
ready within a fortnight. They are scarcely ever 
mentioned in the log, and some years later the Cap- 
tain reported that they had been very little used. 
The sailing-canoes which have been recently intro- 
duced may prove more popular, for they offer possi- 
bilities of racing not possessed by any earlier Club 
sail-boats. Their second season, though, has shown 
them less popular than their first. 

Of the more used boats of the Club we get in 
1873 a full account in the report of a committee 
that had been appointed to consider the navy of that 
time. The flagship was unquestionably the eight- 
oared barge Union. The names of the other boats, 
as reported by the Committee, were of the same 



124 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

nature as those used both before and since, — Argo, 
Evadne, Ariadne, Curlew, Petrel, Bittern, and the 
like, except for the Barnacle, that single-scull lap- 
streak shell, of speed not mentioned, though prob- 
ably well known, which was given to the janitor after 
vain attempts to sell her. As to the kinds of boats, 
the list differed from that of 1870 only in that one 
* gig ' had disappeared. It differs from the list to- 
day in that now there are five or six Randans to one 
then, and several canoes, whereas then there were 
none. In all, there were sixteen boats in the Club 
navy in 1873. Since then the number has fluctuated, 
from seventeen in 1879 to fifty-five (apparently in- 
cluding canoes) in 1892, named in the Captain's re- 
port as * in good condition and conveniently housed.' 
At present 1 there are, exclusive of canoes, thirty 
boats in the Club navy. 

In 1874 it appeared that the Lotus, a single 
wherry, was used most — two hundred and fifty-six 
times. She had been rowed in all 1053 miles. 
The eight-oared shell, Argo, was used only twice 
and pulled only eight miles. In 1902 the Cap- 
tain's report named wherries and light shells as 
the most popular boats; in 1903 it named only 
wherries, which have generally been the boats most 
used. 

Naturally the expenditure for boats has varied 
considerably from year to year. A long time may 
pass without any boat's needing extensive repairs : 

1 1911. 



THE EVEN TENOR 125 

then several boats will give out all at the same time. 
In the spring of 1875 seven new boats were added 
to the Club navy. Naturally, too, plenty of un- 
solicited comment, both favorable and unfavorable, 
on new boats has always found expression in the 
log. In 1882, for instance, there was much difference 
of opinion regarding recent acquisitions. Some 
found them very uncomfortable and cranky; others 
lamented that they ' could n't even get a look at the 
new boats these days.' Then a man trying a ' new 
Blaikie ' in another year found her all full of sharp 
corners, which cut * the calves of one's legs.' To 
which the reply, unsigned and unsympathetic, 
' Toughen your calves then.' 

The number of miles pulled in the boats of the 
Club has varied remarkably with the seasons. Or 
perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the num- 
ber of miles logged, for the Lieutenant or the Cap- 
tain, whichever reported the matter at the annual 
meeting, has been inclined to ascribe the fluctuation 
to the facts that some years there is more crew row- 
ing, instead of single rowing, than others, and that 
members often fail to log their pulls. Still these 
do not account entirely for the varying mileage ; nor 
can it always be explained by other causes. There 
was a considerable falling off in the season of 1898 

— from 6287 miles for the previous year, to 4253 

— which was glibly ascribed to the Spanish War. 
In 1899, however, without any such unusual reason, 
the mileage fell off further, to 4187. The next year 



126 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

it rose to 4787, an increase of six hundred miles. 
In 1901 it was less again by over eight hundred 
miles. This was one of the years when the Captain 
believed that the members neglected to log their 
pulls. 

On the whole, the mileage, since the Club possessed 
its own house and land, increased fairly steadily 
through the seventies till it reached its high-water 
mark in the eighties. From 1880 to the Spanish 
War, the average was 7270 miles. The summer of 
1886, with 7464% miles, was pronounced a success- 
ful season; but the great record was the next year 
— 13,077% miles, five thousand ahead of 1886, and 
more than double the mileage of any previous sea- 
son. Next best to this was the mileage of 1891, 
10,048. 

Some years, a very considerable portion of all the 
rowing was done by only a few men, as in 1882, 
when the Lieutenant reported that ' G. A. Sargent, 
A. B. Ellis, and Dr. F. C. Shattuck rowed nearly one 
fifth of the total.' The next year, E. B. Robins 
was first with a mileage of 768%. 

Since the sudden shrinking of the logged mileage 
of the Club in the year of the Spanish War from 
6287 to 4253, less than any year since the early 
seventies, it has not got back to its average for the 
previous twenty years. Its highest has been 5197 
in 1902. In 1906, again, there was a respectable 
mileage, 5123%, which was very good, considering 
the fact that rowing was stopped, because of the 



THE EVEN TENOR 127 

construction of the Charles River Embankment, in 
October. The next spring it was impossible to get 
a boat from the club-house to the water through the 
chaos of stone, earth, and mud that in time was to 
be an esplanade. The Club accordingly arranged 
with the Boston Athletic Association, likewise forced 
from their old location by work on the Embankment, 
to have quarters in their floating boat-house by the 
Cambridge shore, a little below the Harvard Bridge. 
But that was far to go, and men naturally did not 
feel free as they did in their own quarters. About 
the middle of July, when the Embankment was be- 
coming less chaotic, the courtesy of the contractors 
allowed the Club to establish one of its own rafts 
in front of the club-house. Then anyone who did not 
mind lugging a boat over the very uncertain footing 
of an esplanade in process of construction had a 
chance to row again from the boat-house. Men did 
not avail themselves of the chance with avidity. 
Probably this season showed the low-water mark 
of rowing in the whole history of the Club since the 
Civil War. 

In 1908, though the Embankment was still under 
construction, access to the water was easier, and 
there was a fairly respectable mileage, 2473% miles, 
largely through the zealous work of Messrs. Robins, 
King, and Simmons. But even with the completion 
of the Embankment in 1909, and the occupation of 
the new boat-house for half the season, that year 
and 1910 are far below the old rowing average of 



128 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

7270 miles. In 1909 the mileage was only 3479l/ 2 
miles; in 1910, 50613/4. 1 

Of course there have still been races in the last 
forty years, though no longer such epic contests as 
those of yore, when the Ariadne distanced the whale- 
men at New Bedford, and the Boat Club, almost to a 
man, went to Springfield, to back the Harvard Y-Y 
against Yale. 

Ever since 1866 there have been races for the 
single-scull championship of the Club. The prime 
mover in instituting these was John D. Parker, Jr., 
a prominent Boat Club oarsman, through whose in- 
strumentality a silver cup was offered as the prize 
indicative of the championship. The cup was to be 
held by the winner till he was challenged to another 
race and defeated. Mention has already been made 2 
of the first race for it, which was rowed on May 
7th and won by E. B. Robins. Three times more 
that summer there were races for the single-scull 
championship, of which Robins won the first, F. W. 
Sargent the second, and King the third. Thus 
Robins was the winner in two out of the four cham- 
pionship races of the season. 

Though nothing was said in the rules for regattas, 
agreed upon that same summer, 3 about the number 
of races each year for the single-scull cup, it came 
to be understood that there should be one early and 
one late each season. They were all to be over a 

1 Cf. Appendix E. 2 Ch. V, p. 82. 

3 In September. Cf. p. 82. 



THE EVEN TENOR 129 

two-mile course. Any member winning the cup 
should give his receipt for it to the Treasurer, 
pledging himself to return it to the Captain at 
least two days before the next race for it; and to 
replace it with one similar in all respects, should it 
be lost while in his possession. If any member re- 
tained the cup against all challengers for two years 
— that is, the equivalent of four successive races — 
it should be his for good. In the first years of 
competing for the Championship Cup, Club boats 
were generally used, drawn by lot; in later years 
private shells were used. 1 

At first there was no provision for a second cup, 
in case the one procured for the Club by Mr. Parker 
came permanently into the possession of one mem- 
ber. But with the new constitution and by-laws 
of 1870, were also adopted new ' Champion Rules,' 
on the whole simpler than those of 1866 ; and Article 
V was, ' The prize shall be a silver cup to be pro- 
vided by subscription.' Clearly the intention was 
that after the cup was permanently won, another 
should be made. Thus in 1871 the Committee ap- 
pointed for the purpose reported that they had 
obtained a new cup, which they showed at a meeting 
of the Club, and were then discharged. Also after 
William Appleton, in October, 1872, received the 
cup as his own, having won it the requisite number 
of times, there was a subscription for a new one. 

However, when there came further simplification 

1 W. S. Eaton. 



130 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

of these rules in 1888, 1 which were changed from 
6 Championship ' to 8 Regatta Rules,' there was 
hardly mention of the Single-Scull Championship 
except in one of the seven articles; and though it 
was declared 2 ' The emblem of the championship of 
the Union Boat Club shall be a solid silver cup,' no 
provision was made for replacing it, after it had been 
won for good. Thus, while theoretically there is a 
permanent emblematic cup, in practice there may be 
years when it does not exist. 3 

In these revised Regatta Rules there was explicit 
statement of what we have seen came to be the 
common custom after the first year of Single-Scull 
Championship races : 4 ' There shall be a Spring and 
Fall Regatta at such dates and for such races as 
the Regatta Committee may appoint. A race for 
the Single-Scull Championship of the Club shall be 
held at each Regatta.' The testimony of the » Log 
Book is, however, that interest in the Championship 
Singles has sometimes been so slight that either they 
were not recorded 5 or not rowed. Yet most of them 
have shown good oarsmanship, and some must have 

1 They were adopted by the Club April 2. 

2 Article V. 

3 It depends on the Executive Committee to replace the cup 
whenever they see fit. The cup they bought in 1900 cost $25. At 
the previous annual meeting the President had spoken of the need 
of providing a new cup. 

4 Article III. 

6 Once at least, there seems to be proof that a race was rowed 
without being recorded. The Club records have a vote of September 
4, 1871, that the Autumn Championship Race shall take place be- 
tween September 20 and October 1. William Appleton must at 



THE EVEN TENOR 131 

been exciting contests, as when I. H. Houghton in 
June, 1881, came in only six feet and a half ahead 
of Charles Torrey. Still, it must be said of these 
races in general, as Mr. W. S. Eaton x said of them 
in the seventies and early eighties : ' They never 
created as much interest or enthusiasm as they 
should have. The number of entries was never large, 
and sometimes a single member rowed over the course 
alone.' There have been times subsequently when 
not even this formality was observed. More than 
once may be read in the records of the Executive 
Committee a vote like the following : 2 ' that owing 
to lack of interest, the spring Club races be dropped 
this year.' 

Nor has interest been very keen in other races 
within the Club. Most have been scratch races, with 
varying numbers of entries — sometimes only one 
class, again several classes (of late years including 
canoes) with various entries in each. Sometimes in- 
terest has been stimulated by the offer of a cup, 
as in 1888, when good weather brought out a large 
audience on June 2nd, to see two fours in a race of 
a mile and three quarters. 3 It was won with only 
half a length to spare by the so-called ' Old Men.' 
That was evidently a year when interest in boating 
ran high, for two weeks later three hundred spec- 
least have rowed over the course, for he received the cup the next year, 
which meant four consecutive victories. But there is no entry of the 
race in the log. 

1 Sketch of the Club, 1874-84. 

2 May 9, 1893. 3 There was a turn in the course. 



132 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

tators turned out to see the spring regatta. But 
enthusiasm must have waned towards the end of 
the season, for the fall regatta brought out only one 
competitor for the Single-Scull Championship. Then 
again there has sometimes been resort to a water 
tournament, as in 1890, or something else unusual, 
to rouse interest in Club regattas. 

Among more unusual races were two in 1874 be- 
tween the crew of the Glaucus, or the ' Old Men ' as 
they called themselves complacently, because none of 
them were really old, and the crew of the Triton or 
the ' Kids,' who were even younger. The inception 
of the races had been at the Fast Day dinner, when 
talk about rowing so stirred the enthusiasm of one 
man present that he offered four pewter cups as 
prizes for a four-oar race. Immediately crews were 
formed which began zealous practice in the two 
fours named — boats with primitive sliding-seats 
and no provisions for coxswains, ' for at that time 
the bow oarsman had to steer by a yoke attached to 
his stretcher, and he was not thought much of a man 
if he could not pull his share of the boat and at the 
same time lay a straight course from the boat-house 
to the Longwood bridges and take his boat through 
the draws without slacking speed or touching an 
oar.' * 

The race for the pewters was rowed at high water 
on May 11th, over a course of two miles with a 
turn ; and to the chagrin of the ' Old Men,' who had 

1 W. S. Eaton. 



THE EVEN TENOR 133 

been the first crew to organise and who were pretty 
confident, the ' Kids,' who had entered with some 
trepidation, were the victors. The ' Old Men ' then 
made some change in their crew, persuading the 
stroke of the * Kids ' to come over into their boat ; 
and since Dr. William Appleton, who belonged to 
neither crew, offered a second set of pewters, an- 
other race was arranged for the 5th of June. This 
time the men of the Glaucus felt so sure of victory 
that when they went to buy the cups, seeing some 
silver water-pitchers which they liked better, they 
immediately added enough from their own pockets 
to the money presented, to buy the pitchers, confi- 
dent of winning them themselves. Events proved, 
however, that there may be many a slip in the matter 
of a pitcher as well as of a cup, and also that the 
title of ' Old Men ' was not entirely a misnomer. 
For at the stake, when the Triton had only a 
small lead, ' one of the Glaucus crew, who was 
quite " done up," ceased rowing and exclaimed, 
" I 've a wife and family at home and ought to 
know better than to get into this foolishness. I 'm 
too old for any more races ! " ' And so the Triton 
' Kids ' won the prizes confidently bought by the 
Glaucus men, and were naturally surprised to find 
what they were. 

Then, in 1886, two sailing-canoes of the old- 
fashioned decked kind, named Ripple and Iris, drew 
more than common attention to themselves and so had 
a brief season of fame. On June 27th they engaged 



134 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

in a contest which the log records as ' Race between 
Ripple and Iris. One mile double-blade paddle and 
return under sail. Ripple led to mile stake, put up 
dandy sail and distanced Iris by over half a mile to 
Union Boat Club. The Iris carried her large sail, 
wind very puffy and squally and strong. The Cap- 
tain of the Iris, while he regrets his defeat, was glad 
to get in at all.' 

But the Iris had her revenge, as shown by the log 
for July 4th: ' Sailing Race between Ripple & Iris 
to mile stake & return. Wind easterly, light. Ripple 
carried one sail, Iris two. Iris won by about ^ 
mile. The Captain of the Ripple desires to note that 

he would n't give a for canoes for windward 

work.' 

No more rivalry is recorded between the Ripple 
and the Iris, unless it may be read between the lines 
of the log of October 23d, which chronicles an 
achievement of the Iris unparalleled by any of the 
Ripple. ' Five miles up the river, caught a bird, 
breed unknown. B-ll-ck says grebe, Dr. Appl-t-n 
says shelldrake. I don't know. E-t-n agrees with 
Dr. A. Chased him half an hour . . . This is the 
latest illustration of the sporting qualities of the 
canoe.' 

Club contests in the new sailing-canoes have not 
lacked excitement either. On some gusty afternoons 
in the summer of 1910 — the first year of these 
canoes — it seemed as if the most pressing need of 
the Club was a fleet of life-boats. 



THE EVEN TENOR 135 

Nearly every year has seen some contest worthy 
of record with oarsmen outside of the Club, as one 
day in the fall of 1874, and again in the City Re- 
gatta of the Fourth of July, 1875, when Union men 
were victorious on Jamaica Pond, where regattas 
were frequently held in the seventies. On each occa- 
sion a Club four entered the mile and a half race, 1 
which involved four trips across the pond with three 
turns; and W. S. Eaton, Jr., won the single-scull 
race — three quarters of a mile with one turn. Only 
the most remarkable, however, of such contests shall 
be mentioned ; to chronicle all would be to swell this 
history to mammoth proportions. 

In the years '76 and '77, indeed, there is nothing 
to chronicle. They quite lacked racing enthusiasm, 
despite talk and promises at Club meetings to pro- 
mote it. A challenge in the spring of 1877 from the 
Harvard second crew for a race in six-oared shells 
was laid on the table. The next spring, however, 
a four-oared race was arranged between a picked 
crew from Harvard and one from the Boat Club. 
It was rowed on the 18th of May, in two Union 
boats, Amphitrite and Neptune, exactly alike, over 
a two-mile course — from the Club House to the 
mile stake and return — and was won by the Boat 
Club crew in the Amphitrite, with Francis Peabody, 
Jr., as stroke. 

For a while after this, in neither records nor 

1 In the July race, 1875, the Union crew, which was got together 
hastily without any training, won the second prize. 



136 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

log-book are signs of interest in racing, beyond 
the customary tender of the hospitalities of the 
Club to strangers on regatta days. But in 1883 an 
eight-oared crew was organised, which took its first 
row on March 27th, using the eight-oared paper 
barge. The intention was to keep the crew together 
at least till the regatta on the Seventeenth of June, 
and to arrange several races with Harvard crews, 
but its plans had to be given up. It did succeed, 
however, in having one race with the Freshmen, and 
an impromptu race with the 'Varsity. 

The race with the Freshmen, rowed on the evening 
of April 19th, was, according to the Boston Herald 
of the next morning, * one of the most interesting 
races ever rowed on the Charles River.' The crews, 
the same authority says, took their positions a little 
over a mile and an eighth upstream shortly before six 
o'clock. The Freshmen were inside, and so had 
slacker water than the Union men. The 'Varsity 
crew, though not entered in the race, took its position 
just outside of the Union boat and rowed over the 
course for practice. ' The water was smooth, but a 
strong tide was running up against the boats, so that 
a flying start was taken. 

' Colonel Bancroft, coach of the Harvard crew, 
held the rudder lines for the Freshmen and stood up 
in the stern of the boat during the race. He got 
out of the men all that was in them, encouraging, 
entreating, and expostulating in a voice that could 
be heard ... at West Boston Bridge.' 



THE EVEN TENOR 137 

The Union crew, after a start that put them half 
a length ahead, seemed well able to keep their lead 
or increase it over both Harvard crews. Despite 
the Freshmen's efforts to cut down this lead, it in- 
creased to seven eighths of a length. Though the 
Freshmen now steered out towards the Union crew, 
apparently to drive them into the strong current 
and make them work harder, Peabody, the Union 
captain and stroke, ordered the coxswain to hold his 
course. Two or three times the oars of the crews 
touched, but the race went on. 

* Half a mile from the finish Harvard rallied and 
after a vigorous effort . . . they drew to within 
half a length ' of the Union crew. But the latter 
rallied, too, and ' rowed across the line a quarter of 
a boat's length to the good. . . . The time of the 
race was not taken.' * 

The Boat Club was not so successful in arranging 
a formal race with the Harvard 'Varsity. This was 
agreed upon for the afternoon of the College Class 
Races, May 10th, but the Harvard Captain had to 
ask for a postponement on account of injury to 
one of his men, which the Boat Club could not agree 
to, because two or three of their crew found them- 
selves obliged to stop rowing sooner than they had 
expected; and so on May 5th it was decided to call 
the race off. But that very afternoon the 'Varsity 

1 The Union Boat Club crew consisted of the following: Francis 
Peabody, Jr., captain and stroke, R. H. Dana, Jr., F. W. Smith, 
Nathaniel Brigham, Robert Bacon, W. S. Eaton, Jr., C. H. Williams, 
R. Heber Jones (bow), and S. Walker, coxswain. 



138 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

rowed down to the Union Boat Club, and just as they 
were starting back to Cambridge, the Boat Club 
crew were ready to go out for their final pull before 
disbanding. A race was arranged on the spur of 
the moment up to the Longwood Bridge. It proved 
of such interest that a long account of it appeared 
in the Herald of the next day. 

' The Harvard crew started a few feet behind the 
Union boat, but further out in the stream, where 
they had the benefit of a little stronger tide, and 
before a dozen strokes were pulled, it was evident 
that they were to have a hard race. 

' As the crews sped ... up the river, the Union 
eight drew gradually away from the crimson blades, 
until they were nearly a length ahead. Then the 
'Varsity spurted and closed up half a length, but the 
Union crew in turn let themselves out and again drew 
away. This was kept up to the Brookline * Bridge, 
when both crews stopped, with about a length and 
a third of open water between them, and both were 
pretty well blown. . . . 

' The Union eight 2 were well handled by Bacon 
at stroke, who in the absence of Peabody, acted as 
captain. He, with Brigham and Smith, pulled the 
stroke in vogue at Harvard of late years, while the 
others exhibited various styles. . . . 

' At the conclusion of the race the Harvard men 

1 That is, Longwood Bridge. 

2 The eight on this occasion were: Robert Bacon (stroke), C. H. 
Williams, Nathaniel Brigham, F.W. Smith, R. H. Dana, W. S. Eaton, 
Jr., I. H. Houghton, R. Heber Jones (bow). 



THE EVEN TENOR 139 

congratulated their competitors, and Capt. Ham- 
mond said it was a square beat.' 

Occasionally there were other impromptu races. 
In May, 1888, a Union crew in the Argo had another 
successful brush with the 'Varsity; and the year 
previously the Vesper, with five men, returning from 
the Mystic River ' beat six-oar gig from Wabash 
in two heats.' * 

The institution of Labor Day in the nineties 
gave new stimulus to racing. By offering com- 
petition with outside crews at the end of the sea- 
son, it led men to keep in training for racing all 
summer. A victory in the Junior Doubles by 
H. C. Cushing, Jr., and F. Tudor, Jr., in 1893, 
brought to the Boat Club the first of many Labor 
Day laurels. 

The year 1899 was an especially busy one in rac- 
ing. Apart from the regular Club races, the Union 
Boat Club participated in the regatta of the Metro- 
politan Rowing Association on June 17th, in which 
a Union four-oar 2 won a prize, and in some scratch 
races — on the day of the autumn regatta of the 
Club — with the Boston Athletic Association. But 
the great event of the season was the twenty-seventh 
Annual Regatta of the National Association of 
Amateur Oarsmen, held on the Charles River under 
the auspices of the New England Amateur Rowing 
Association, which the Boat Club had voted to join 

1 Log Book, April 14, 1887. 

2 G. B. Magrath, R. P. Blake, Hugh Cabot, and A. S. Hardy. 



140 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

in 1887. 1 The prizes were paid for by money raised 
by subscription, to which the Union Boat Club con- 
tributed $300 — a sum quite made up by receipts 
from the sale of seats on the roof and on a stand 
erected on vacant land next to the Club House. The 
weather on the two days of the regatta, July 28th and 
29th, was excellent, and there were many spectators. 
On the whole, the regatta was eminently successful. 

Since then there has been no regatta of equal im- 
portance on the Charles ; but there have been smaller 
ones on holidays, as Labor Day and the Fourth of 
July, in which the Club has taken part. It has had 
informal races besides from time to time with neigh- 
boring clubs, as a relay race with the Boston Athletic 
Association in 1901. 2 Among the more notable of 
such contests was a two-mile race in 1902, 3 with the 
eight of the Millstreams of Chelsea. Only a quarter 
of a mile from the finish the Millstream crew were 
a length ahead, but the Union boat won by eighteen 
feet. Then, too, since the institution of the so-called 
American Henley, Union Boat Club men have gone 
off to compete in regattas on the Schuylkill, several 
times with marked success. 

And so the Boat Club has very properly been in- 
terested in racing from the victories of the Ripple 
and the Wave at Hull in 1853 to the present day. 
This interest, however, like that in rowing in general, 
has varied unaccountably from year to year. On 

1 At the meeting of April 4. 

2 September 25. 3 June 7. 



THE EVEN TENOR 141 

the whole it has been relatively less in later years 
than in the fifties and early sixties, as is but natural. 
Then every one of the score or two of members 
entered the Club to become an active oarsman. Now- 
adays many men come into the Club because of its 
facilities for winter exercise; and others, though 
with a very genuine interest in boating, care more 
for the freshness and beauty of the river than for 
the attainment of speed and skill. Moreover, there 
cannot be the community of interest in a large Club 
possible in a small one. Nor have Boat Club men 
made so much use as they might of the rowing coaches 
who have been employed from time to time — not 
even in 1901, when the Club enjoyed the services of 
Mr. Wray, who has since been so successful with 
Harvard oarsmen, nor at present, when it enjoys the 
services of Mr. Haines. 

Of course 1907 and 1908, when the Boat Club was 
cut off from the water by the construction of the 
Charles River Embankment, were bad years for 
racing. But the use of the nearly completed new 
Boat House by visiting crews in the Fourth of July 
regatta of 1909 marked the beginning of new facili- 
ties for regattas. Since then, with informal scratch 
races at midsummer celebrations, and with frequent 
success in City regattas on the Charles and the ' Hen- 
ley ' on the Schuylkill, the Club has attracted most 
of the recent Harvard 'Varsity oarsmen who live in 
the neighborhood of Boston. It is well pleased with 
its able coach, Mr. Haines, under whose direction 



142 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

it has had one of the most successful seasons in its 
history. All in all, the prospects of the Union Boat 
Club in rowing are brighter than they have been for 
a good many years. 

The Club in these later years has kept to its old 
hospitality. Harvard boats, and boats of all other 
clubs in Boston waters, have always been welcome at 
the Union rafts. 1 Oarsmen coming from out of town 
to Boston regattas have generally made their head- 
quarters at the Boat Club. At the regatta of the 
National Association of Amateur Oarsmen on the 
Charles in 1899, 2 the house was taxed to the utmost ; 
about seventy-five visiting oarsmen and shells were 
quartered in it. In entertaining the visitors, the 
Union Boat Club was cordially aided by the Boston 
Athletic Association, as it has been on similar 
occasions. 

As long as the old house lasted, guests were invited 
to it to see regattas, and tickets to seats on the roof 
were sold to the public if any were left after they had 
been offered to friends of Club members. Frequently 
on the Fourth of July holders of City tickets for the 
Judges' boat have used the Club raft ; and sometimes 
the City Band has played from the Club roof. Al- 
ways on the days of Harvard Class Races, the hos- 
pitalities of the house have been tendered to the Har- 

1 On two occasions when Harvard crews have asked to borrow 
Union Boat Club boats — in 1871, to use a four-oar on the Fourth, 
and in 1876, to use a six-oar for a month — the Club has not been 
willing to make the loan. 

2 See p. 39. 



THE EVEN TENOR 143 

vard crews and their friends ; and often tickets to 
the roof of the old house, each admitting * a gentle- 
man and ladies,' were sent to the President of the 
Harvard University Boat Club. 1 

Arrangements also have always been made, by 
which outsiders, sometimes on payment of a small 
fee, sometimes without pay, might temporarily enjoy 
some of the privileges of the Club. For three years 
in the seventies, 2 tickets were issued at five dollars 
apiece to persons duly approved by a committee, en- 
titling them to use the Club House for fencing and 
sparring, and gymnastic exercise in general, from 
November till April. Unneeded boat-room was 
leased then and subsequently to the Dolphin Boat 
Club ; 3 and when its members found themselves in 
some financial straits, their request to postpone pay- 
ment of rent was readily granted. On the other hand, 
the request of a bicycle club for room in the Boat 
House was refused, since the Club itself needed the 
room. But in 1900 the Executive Committee gladly 
co-operated with the Boston Athletic Association in 
helping schoolboy crews; and ever since the Boat 
Club has made some arrangements for their conven- 
ience. In the spring of 1902, some students of the 
Institute of Technology were invited to row from 
the Club House. The Captain of the Boat Club, 

1 In 1873 fifty such tickets were sent; in subsequent years, a 
hundred. 

2 1877, 1878, 1879. 

8 The Dolphin Boat Club used the smaller room on the ground 
floor, later known as 'the Canoe Room.' 



144. THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

commending this plan at the spring meeting, said 
that it had always been the policy of the Club to 
encourage a better class of oarsmen, and that he 
hoped the use of the Club by a few ' Tech ' men might 
lead to the establishment of a Technology Boat 
Club. But since the ' Tech ' men could get no boat 
that year, not much came of their rowing. In the 
springs of 1910 and 1911 they had the privileges of 
the Club again, this time with such success that in 
one or two impromptu races they were unkind 
enough to outrow their hosts. 

Nothing in the records shows when more convivial 
hospitality began in the form of ' smokers ' and the 
like, and nobody seems to remember. They were 
the natural outgrowth of those winter evenings in 
the old days when the Club was small and struggling, 
and members would gather round the stove in its 
one room, and talk over plans for the next summer, 
and sing the Canadian Boat Song, and other songs, 
to keep their courage up. As the Club grew, such 
meetings inevitably became less frequent and larger 
and more formal. Still they appear to have been 
without formally arranged programmes till compar- 
atively recently. At the annual meeting of 1895 1 
the statement was made that * smokers ' 2 had never 
been very successful. Perhaps it was because there 

1 November 11. 

2 The first time the word 'smoker' occurs in the records is in the 
report of a meeting of the Executive Committee, December 20, 1890. 
It was voted then to arrange a 'smoker,' but nothing is said about 
it later. 



THE EVEN TENOR 145 

had been too many, as we may infer from an appro- 
priation one winter for four of them. Though the 
Executive Committee did nothing to give new interest 
to the ' smokers ' that year, they planned two for 
the following winter with fairly formal programmes. 
At the first x the Glee, Banjo, and Mandolin Clubs 
of Harvard gave a concert, to the great pleasure 
of an audience of about a hundred and fifty. At 
the second, 2 at which seventy-five were present, 
there were legerdemain tricks, and music by a 
quartette. Both smokers were pronounced emi- 
nently successful. 

That same year after the spring meeting, a ' re- 
ception ' was given to Mr. R. C. Lehmann, who was 
then coaching the Harvard crews. There was music 
by the Bohemian Orchestral Club, and beer and ale 
and cheese, and of course after the formal concert 
was over, plenty of song from the whole company. 

Since then winter ' smokers,' 3 with more or less 
definite programmes, have become an established Club 
custom. Though none have been dull, some have been 
more interesting than others, notably that of March, 
1911, with its novelty of boxing and wrestling 
matches. To all these, members have had the privi- 
lege of inviting guests, as they have had to the 
recent delightful suppers — following the informal 
midsummer races — which have been served on the 

1 January 8, 1897. 

2 February 25, 1897. 

3 Some years there have been two 'smokers,' but latterly the 
tendency has been to have only one. 



146 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

* deck ' of the new Boat House in the summer 
twilight. 

The annual dinners, which seem now a well-estab- 
lished custom of the Club, date from only a few years 
back. The first was at the Exchange Club on Decem- 
ber 19th, 1907. According to the Captain's report, 
the dining-room was decorated ' with Boat Club ban- 
ners and other emblems and on the table were two 
twelve-foot sweeps.' About forty members were 
present, of whom those who had represented the Club 
in open regattas wore Club ribbons, blue and white, 
across their shirt-fronts, thereby creating ' much 
jealousy among those members whose energies had 
been devoted solely to hand-ball.' The Captain also 
says that * cocktails and other things were served 
from a large bowl . . . before the dinner,' but the 
Historian, who was likewise present, while remember- 
ing the cocktails, thinks that the ' other things ' ex- 
isted only in the Captain's excited imagination. He 
agrees, however, with the Captain's further state- 
ments that ' there was no formality . . . and that the 
whole spirit of the occasion was one of geniality and 
warm fellowship ' ; that 6 a chorus which the Captain 
. . . had got together sang with splendid enthusiasm 
but with some occasionally disordered ideas as to time 
and tune ' ; that the speeches of Mr. T. T. Baldwin, 
Dr. Magrath, ' full of splendidly sounding words 
and long, well balanced sentences,' Dr. Beth Vincent, 
and Mr. Henry Parkman all met with much favor; 
that the Captain sang a song ' in which he voiced 



THE EVEN TENOR 147 

certain general sentiments in regard to various mem- 
bers of the Club, including two doctors and several 
gentlemen,' which song had better not be printed ; and 
finally that the meeting broke up ' with compara- 
tively little disorder.' 

At the next dinner, which was on December 9th, 
1908, there were about sixty present. This, also at 
the Exchange Club, was quite as much of a success 
as the preceding one. 

The next year there was a change in that the 
dinner, which was on January 8th, 1910, marked 
the house-warming of the new Club House and 
was accordingly served in the new building, then 
thrown open to members for the first time. About 
a hundred and twenty-five were present. Nothing 
was done especially to commemorate the occupation 
of the new house, but natural interest in it and delight 
at finding it so commodious and pleasing put every 
one in the best holiday humor. The dinner was so 
successful that at the next annual meeting, the Club 
voted to have the following annual dinner in the Club 
House, and there it was served in December, 1910. 

Before these annual dinners were instituted, the 
Club had dined together on only a few occasions. 
There was an attempt in 1871 to start the fashion of 
an annual dinner that should be held towards the end 
of May to commemorate the anniversary of the 
Club. At a meeting of the Executive Committee on 
May 16th, at which the dinner was called both the 
1 annual ' and the * anniversary dinner,' it was voted 



148 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

to have it on the evening of the 26th, the Club's birth- 
day, on which day also the Championship Cup race 
was to be rowed. The next year preparations for the 
event were more elaborate, for it was the twenty-first 
anniversary of the Club. The day was celebrated 
on the 25th, for the actual twenty-first birthday fell 
on Sunday, and a committee of three was appointed 
' with full powers to make all the necessary arrange- 
ments for a proper celebration ... at an expense 
not exceeding $10.00 per man.' 1 There was to be a 
four-oar race in the afternoon and also a single-scull 
race, for which Mr. J. A. Iasigi presented a silver 
pitcher as a prize, and in the evening a dinner at the 
American House. There was a good attendance at 
the regatta, in which H. A. Stevens won Mr. Iasigi's 
pitcher; and the dinner went off with all the jollity 
and spirit suitable to the occasion. Nevertheless, 
there seems to have been no third ' annual ' or * anni- 
versary ' dinner. 2 

The next important Club dinner was one held 
at the American House early in the eighties to pro- 
mote greater interest in rowing, to which the Harvard 
crews were invited. On May 26th, 1891, the fortieth 
anniversary of the Club, fifty members dined at the 
Thorndike. Ten years later came the greatest anni- 
versary of all, the fiftieth, in 1901, which was ob- 
served on Saturday, the 25th, since the 26th fell on 

1 Monthly meeting, May 6, 1872. 

2 At least there is no record of it, and members of the Club in 
1873 cannot remember any. 



THE EVEN TENOR 149 

Sunday. At the annual meeting of the previous No- 
vember the Club began its preparations for the event 
by voting that a special committee of fifteen should 
be appointed to see that the day was duly celebrated 
— the committee to consist of the President, seven 
old members, and seven other members named by the 
Executive Committee. It is little wonder that such 
a large committee proved unwieldy and had to be 
subdivided, one part arranging for the afternoon of 
the celebration and the other for the evening. At 
the spring meeting the Vice-President, in the absence 
of the President, informed the Club of the plans for 
the day — races and sports on the river in the after- 
noon, and in the evening a dinner at the Hotel Somer- 
set, notices of which had been sent not only to pres- 
ent but also to former members. 

When the great day came, the weather was disap- 
pointingly cold and stormy. It put something of a 
damper on the races and other river sports in the 
afternoon. But on the dinner at the Somerset there 
was no damper. Over a hundred were present, in- 
cluding among the more distinguished veterans those 
good oars of the late fifties and early sixties, W. H. 
Carpenter, E. M. Chamberlin, Alfred Whitman, 
George M. Smith, H. B. Rice, and Daniel Webster 
Rogers, the founder of the Club. 

Despite its enjoyment of conviviality, the Boat 
Club has steadily refused to install either a bar or 
a restaurant in its quarters. What has always been 
its prevailing sentiment found formal expression as 



150 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

far back as July 17th, 1861 : * That no intoxicating 
drinks, including ale and beer, be allowed on the 
premises except by permission of the Directors.' The 
Directors, however, have always given their permis- 
sion that ale and beer be allowed, along with crackers 
and cheese, at Club meetings, and on some other occa- 
sions, such as the old Fast Day celebrations and the 
later ' smokers.' 

There have generally been a few members, though, 
who would have liked to see a grill-room in the Club, 
with its attendant drinks; and on two occasions, at 
least, sentiment for this has grown fairly strong. 
After the Club got into its own house in 1870, and 
again when the old building was torn down in 1909 
and the new one planned, a good many men thought 
that some provision should be made for serving 
lunches and suppers. But the sense of the majority 
was still the same as that of the Executive Committee 
when some years before, 1 after careful consideration, 
they had ' deemed it inexpedient to establish a grill- 
room.' 

Nevertheless, this habitual temper of the Club has 
not prevented the serving of some substantial repasts 
within its walls. In the old house, hearty meals were 
served on at least two Fast Days, paradoxical as the 
statement may sound. At each of the suppers al- 
ready mentioned on the deck of the new Boat House, 
there has been as substantial a meal as a warm sum- 
mer evening justifies. And we have seen that for 

1 The opinion expressed at the annual meeting in 1891. 



THE EVEN TENOR 151 

two years 1 the annual dinner was in the main Club 
House. 

As long as Massachusetts held to the institution 
of Fast Day, the Club kept to the custom which had 
obtained since 1855, of making it the official opening 
of the rowing season. Probably, even if there is not 
always record of it, a ' Fast Day Committee ' was 
appointed to arrange for the day. Once, at least, 2 
it was appointed as early as the 1st of March. That 
such length of time was not necessary is apparent 
from the records of 1875 when a committee of three, 
appointed on April 5th, had only three days to make 
their arrangements ; yet no less than thirty members 
of the Club sat down to the Fast Day dinner, — * a 
very enjoyable occasion.' It is to be hoped that it 
was, for they made a day of it, leaving the Club 
House at eleven in the forenoon and not getting 
back till eight in the evening. The number of men 
present at these Fast Day dinners varied from year 
to year unaccountably. The year before that when 
there were thirty, there had been only eleven; the 
year before that, only eight. Once 3 there were only 
three, but the previous Fast Day there had been 
twenty-four. As a rule the number was between 
twenty and twenty-five. 

In 1879 Brighton was abandoned as the objective 
point of the Fast Day excursion, and City Point, 

1 January, 1910, and December, 1910. 

2 1880. 

8 1886. If more were present at the dinner, there was no mention 
of them. 



152 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

South Boston, was substituted. This made the row 
to and from the dinner, through the busiest part of 
Boston Harbor, across the tracks of the ferry-boats 
and by warships and ocean liners, more interesting 
than the pull up the Charles, where the only craft 
met were row-boats or a coal barge or a schooner in 
the convoy of a tug. And so for thirteen years, 
representative oarsmen of the Union Boat Club pro- 
claimed that the rowing season had opened by brav- 
ing the perils of the Harbor and dining at City Point. 
' McElroy's ' was the hostelry which they usually 
favored. 1 

In 1892 came another change. A notice, duly 
sent out, declared that on April 7th at eleven o'clock 
promptly, there was to be a row in the Club boats, 
and that at one there would be served in the meeting- 
room a ' chowder-chop-steak dinner. . . . Tickets, 
including beer and music, two dollars and fifty cents 
each.' It is evident that the innovation met with 
approval, for the Captain at the next annual meet- 
ing said that the Fast Day dinner in the Club House 
instead of at ' McElroy's ' had been a great suc- 
cess. But it was not repeated. The next year only 
lunch was served at the Club House, at the cost of 
fifty cents, which had been duly advertised in the 
following notice : 

1 I am assuming that the celebration occurred as usual in 1884, 
though it is not chronicled in that year. 



THE EVEN TENOR 153 

U. B. C. 
Fast Day, April Sixth. 
Opening of the Rowing Season. 

Weather permitting, an excursion will be 
made up the river in boats and canoes, starting 
at 10.30 a. m. It is hoped that the rowing men 
will turn out in force. Lunch (roast beef, salad, 
beer &c. ) will be served at the Boat-House at one 
o'clock. Tickets fifty cents each. Each mem- 
ber may bring one guest. After lunch the 
Entertainment Committee will give their last 
Smoker. 

The Fast Day Committee requires members 
to fill out and mail the enclosed post card on 
or before Tuesday, April 4-th. 

For the joint Committee. 

In 1894 the movable holiday of Fast Day was abol- 
ished, and Patriots' Day was fixed on the 19th of 
April, to take its place. There is no record of the 
Club's attempting a celebration of the new holiday in 
its first year, nor of its having any spring excursion 
at all; but the next year an attempt was made to 
transfer the excursion of the old holiday to the new 
one. The eight-oared Argo made a forenoon trip 
up the river on Patriots' Day, and on her return 
other members of the Club — the number is not 
mentioned — sat down with the crew of the Argo to 
lunch. The log says, ' Beautiful, warm still day. 
Lunch 1 p. m. at Club House. Music, beer, etc' In 
1896 again there was a Club lunch on Patriots' Day, 



154 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

with twenty-five men present. No subsequent cele- 
brations of the day are recorded. Probably the idea 
of making it take the place of Fast Day was given 
up, because, as already suggested, 1 the third week of 
April seems unreasonably late for even the official 
opening of the rowing season. 2 

No doubt it was the established success of the Fast 
Day Excursion that led a crew of eight with a cox- 
swain to go out for a long morning row on the 30th 
of May, 1893 — the last year of Fast Day — which 
they called the ' Decoration Day Excursion. 5 If they 
thought thus to establish another regular holiday 
excursion, they failed; the Decoration Day row did 
not become a custom, nor did a tentative ' Club Day ' 
ever win favor. One such was appointed for Satur- 
day, the fifth of May, 1877, a singular date, if the 
purpose was to commemorate the birthday of the 
Club, the twenty-sixth — a day, by the way, which 

1 Ch. III. 

2 Mr. W. S. Eaton compiled a list of the Fast Day excursions 
during the ten years whose history he recorded, showing the date of 
each, with the destination and number of boats and members at- 
tending, which list is appended because the celebrations mentioned 
are probably typical: 

April 2, 1874. Charles River Hotel, Brighton . 

April 8, 1875. " " " . . 

April 13, 1876. " " " . . 

April 12, 1877. " " " " . . 

April 11, 1878. Albany Hotel, Faneuil, Brighton 

April 3, 1879. Point Pleasant House, So. Boston 

April 8, 1880. Point Pleasant House, City Point 
April 7, 1881. 
April 6, 1882. 

April 5, 1883. City Point, So. Boston .... 



>ats 


Members 


2 


15 


6 


30 


4 


25 


4 


24 


3 


19 


2 


20 


5 


23 


1 


15 


3 


29 


1 


9 



THE EVEN TENOR 155 

ought to be more noticed by the Club than it has 
been. But no record is preserved of this ' Club 
Day,' nor does it seem to have been repeated. In 
fact, no regular holiday excursion of the Boat Club 
has ever been successful except the Fast Day Ex- 
cursion, a well-recognised institution from 1855 to 
1893. 

A new custom of the Club which developed in the 
seventies and flourished about twenty years was ' Get- 
ting the Rafts.' This was no child's play but man's 
work, done in March or early April, more often than 
not under far from ideal conditions of weather. Gen- 
erally there was a dinner at Young's afterwards — 
there ought to have been always — a good man's 
dinner too, to compensate for the man's work, with 
thick beefsteak smothered in onions, washed down 
with plenty of Bass. 

' Getting the rafts ' was the expedition of the 
Captain, assisted by at least four or five — some- 
times eight or ten — volunteers, in strong row-boats 
to the marshes along the river, where the Club floats 
had been secured late in the previous autumn. Some- 
times they had settled so deep into the soft soil of the 
marsh that digging was necessary to get them free; 
at other times they were so imbedded in ice that they 
had to be cut out. And always the work must be 
done at just the right tide, when there was the least 
extent of marsh land to roll the rafts over; for of 
course in order to prevent their washing away in a 
winter storm, they had been floated to the marsh at 



156 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the highest tide of the previous November or Decem- 
ber, and then rolled up far enough to be secure. 
When they were once launched again, it was generally 
too much to tow them to the boat-house and put 
them in position all in the same day. Usually the 
rafts were pried into the water and towed to the 
boat-house one day, and some time later fixed in 
their proper places. This last was only a humdrum 
matter, the chief requirement for which was plenty 
of time ; but ' getting the rafts ' proper required 
thought and strength and patience. It was some- 
thing of an adventure, and that is why it became a 
Club institution. 

' Putting away the rafts,' the natural precursor 
of ' getting ' them, was not so interesting, for the 
same reason that shutting up or dismantling a house 
is not so interesting as opening or furnishing one. 
Nor was it so adventurous; it did not involve diffi- 
cult digging or cutting out. ' Putting away the 
rafts,' therefore, is not mentioned particularly in the 
Club records : it never became a recognised * custom.' 

The first record of ' getting the rafts,' which reads 
as if the custom was already established, is in the 
log for April 3d, 1871. 

' Monday evening, 10 p. m., brought rafts down 
from up river, and anchored off front of house.' 

Evidently they were not well secured, for: 
* Wednesday, April 5, a. m., gale washed spars from 
under inside raft, & bridge washed off from middle, 
but found uninjured inside Cambridge bridge.' 



THE EVEN TENOR 157 

At the end of that season there was trouble again. 
On December 7th the rafts broke loose and floated up 
the river; but they suffered no harm and were put 
safely in winter-quarters. They were housed then 
on the banks of one of the several little creeks in the 
salt marsh just south of the river, near the present 
Bay State Road. 

For eleven years more x the rafts were kedged up 
to this little Brookline creek every autumn, and down 
again every spring. Then it would seem that the 
owner of the marsh charged too much for storage, for 
the Club voted to settle to the best advantage a bill 
for marsh rent for the winter of 1880 and '81, 
amounting to $45, which appears excessive. The 
next year the rafts were sent not upstream but across 
the river to the marsh near the Safe Works in Cam- 
bridgeport. After several seasons there they changed 
their winter-quarters to the marsh between the Cam- 
bridge bridges. Then, when the Cambridge embank- 
ments were built, the rafts had to move again, this 
time upstream to a place on the Cambridge shore 
not far below the railroad bridge. Since the Cam- 
bridge embankment has been carried up there, the 
rafts have been housed for the winter near the 
Cottage Farm Bridge, on the Boston side of the 
river. 

Members of the Club now for upwards of twenty 
years have given over the tasks of housing and ' get- 
ting ' the rafts themselves. These have been per- 

1 That is, till 1882. 



158 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

formed under the direction of Mr. Gabriel Farrell. 
Sometimes the rafts have been towed up to their 
place and back again in the spring by one of the tug- 
boats that ply on the Charles River, but of later 
years they have been laboriously towed along the 
embankment by hand. 

The adventures of both ' putting away ' and c get- 
ting ' the rafts varied from year to year, largely ac- 
cording to the weather. More than once they would 
drag their anchors (as we have seen in 1871) before 
they were fixed in the spring, and so have to be towed 
back into place. In 1875, when the spring opened 
late, the whole sixth of April was spent ' in cutting 
one raft from the ice.' The following day the raft 
at last was cleared, hauled off the marsh at flood 
tide, and brought to the Club. But not till the 26th 
were the other two rafts ' taken off the marsh with 
jacks and screws and brought down river.' 

The coldest trip the rafts ever made was in 1887, 
on December 2nd, when, with the thermometer only a 
little above zero, they were towed by * Mattie Sar- 
gent ' — presumably a tug-boat — ' to winter-quar- 
ters near Cambridge Bridge.' Though this was later 
than usual to put them away, they were still later in 
1884, for which year we read under date of Decem- 
ber 15th: 'After unusually fine and mild weather 
for the season, the rafts were kedged to the Cam- 
bridge shore.' In '92 the floats were not up till 
December 23d, and in '96 there was good rowing till 
the last float was towed away on December 21st. In 



THE EVEN TENOR 159 

1873, on the other hand, the record appears as early 
as the 5th of November : ' took rafts up river and 
secured them on the marsh.' 

The earliest removal was in 1906, when the rafts 
were put away on the 25th and 26th of October, but 
that was in consequence of the construction of the 
Embankment. The next spring, as we have seen, the 
Boat Club was raftless, and its members rowed from 
the house of the Athletic Association near the Har- 
vard Bridge till about the middle of July, when the 
courtesy of the contractors enabled the Club to have 
a float of its own by the Embankment in front of the 
Club House — the latest date on record for putting 
a Club raft in position. A similar arrangement had 
to suffice for the next season and for the beginning of 
the one after that ; but in that year, 1909, the Em- 
bankment was virtually completed. So was the new 
boat-house. And so by the middle of the summer, 
the Union Boat Club had its rafts once more in front 
of its own building. 

To show that ' getting the rafts ' was not one 
unmitigated round of fun and frolic, it is necessary 
only to quote the account in the log for 1883, which 
relates an experience that was probably typical. 

'Getting the Rafts.' 

1 March 1 8, Sophia 

William S. Eaton, Jr baling with bucket 

J. H. Ransom, Jr bow 

E. F. Peirce stroke 



160 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Halcyon 

H. Parkman bow 

R. H. Jones stroke 

Alex (janitor) baling with kettle 

Columba 

J. E. R. Hill 

J. Schroeder. .boat newly varnished and tight 

H. L. Harding 

' The above party, filled with the usual Spring 
enthusiasm, left the Boat-house at 2.30 p. m. 
and pulled to where the rafts lay, near the Safe 
Works, on Cambridge shore, north of West Bos- 
ton bridge. 

' Landed at low tide through very soft black 
mud. 

' Crew of Columba soon returned home carry- 
ing Peirce, who returned alone in the boat, 
bringing coats and jerseys. 

' Rafts were " high and dry." Chopped ice 
away, placed all boats, tools, and rigging on 
rafts, built fire under lee of wall and waited, 
cold and supperless, for high water to float the 
rafts. 

' Tide was high at 8.15 p. m. but did not move 
the rafts (low course of tides). 

' Having beguiled the weary hours with songs, 
stories, and dreams of food, &c, we were finally 
compelled to abandon our plan, and reached 
the boat-house at 9.15 p. m. in the Halcyon and 
Columba, having left the Sophia, with hope that 
some one might steal her. 

* Unloaded tools and rigging and housed 
boats. Weather cold after sunset. Wind 
S.S.W. strong. Sky cloudy. 

< W. S. Eaton, Je., Cap't. U. B. C 



THE EVEN TENOR 161 

Rowing has never been wholly dependent on the 
rafts. Both before they were in place and after they 
were taken away, there have always been enthusiastic 
souls to venture out on the river ; and we have seen 1 
that the varying seasons have caused considerable 
variation in the dates of the first and last rows, for 
the honor of logging which there has always been 
some rivalry. We have seen also 2 that Mr. E. B. 
Robins was frequently the first man out and the last 
one in. Through all the years he holds the record of 
the Club for both early daring and late persistence. 
Among his chief rivals for these honors have been 
Messrs. King, Eaton, C. H. Williams, W. B. Clarke, 
Courtenay Guild, and R. P. Blake, and Dr. G. B. 
Magrath. 

East Day excursions were not the only ones that 
the brethren of the Boat Club indulged in. In the 
logs of the seventies one reads fairly often of four 3 
or six 4 men, or perhaps more, going for dinner to 
the Charles River Hotel or Point Shirley, in which 
latter case the entry is likely to be ' for dinner and 
swim.' In the eighties entries of such rows become 
rarer and rarer till they finally cease. Sporadic 
attempts in late years to revive the old custom of 
combining a row with a good dinner have not 
succeeded. 

There were still Sirens at Point Shirley in those 

1 P. 119. 2 P. 93. 

3 Ariadne, May 18 and May 24, 1873. 

4 Evadne, June 1 and June 22, 1873. 



162 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

days — one of the reasons perhaps for its popularity 
with the Boat Club. In 1871 two men, logging their 
pull down the harbor in a double lapstreak, added: 
' Dined at Point Shirley (Louisa) .' Was she Louise, 
logged in 1870 as ' fairest of the fair,' the same that 
supplanted the much more logged Nellie? On that 
important point, the Muse of History is silent. No 
enchantress is celebrated in the log of '72, but the 
Evadne and her crew of six met and duly reported 
one in '73, as witness the entry for June 1st, — * Din- 
ner, etc., Julia, etc' Yet only three weeks later, 
when again a crew of six pulled to Point Shirley — 
four of them of the very crew that had feasted their 
eyes on Julia — the entry in the log is, ' Dinner 
served by Annie, who fills Louisa's place.' Verily 
consolation doth follow loss quickly: Nellie from 
Lawrence, pretty and ' kind of lonesome ' ; Louise 
(or Louisa), 'fairest of the fair'; 'Julia, etc.'; 
and then ' Annie, who fills Louisa's place ! ' Annie 
was the last of the line. Since her name appears, 
there is no hint in Boat Club records that its doughty 
oarsmen have ever again heard the song of the Siren 
steal soft o'er any waters. 

We have seen * that in the early days a moonlight 
excursion on some fine autumn evening was one of the 
institutions of the Club. If the custom was observed 
scrupulously, the records are defective, for there are 
several years in which no such excursion is mentioned. 
From the records of 1870, however, we may infer 

1 Ch. III. 



THE EVEN TENOR 163 

that it had become regular, for it was voted, 1 owing 
to the unusual calls on members for money that year 
— the year of building and furnishing the Club 
House — that it was best to omit the autumn excur- 
sion. But for several years subsequently it gener- 
ally occurred, though it was not always recorded. 
Ladies were invited, and as a rule the barge Union 
was used because of its roominess. The largest num- 
ber of passengers the Union is recorded as carrying 
on one of these excursions was thirteen, 2 of whom 
only one was a man. After 1878 such excursions, if 
they still occurred, are not chronicled. 

There were also occasional moonlight parties — 
they were not large or formal enough to be called 
excursions — in summer, which in point of fact one 
would think a better time for them than autumn. 
Often not more than four or five ladies would be in- 
vited to these 3 — a favored few as compared with 
the dozen or so of the regular autumn excursion. 

Then there were more venturesome excursions to 
which no ladies were invited. On June 17th, 1890, 
twenty-three men went in two boats to Nahant and 
back, an unusually long trip for such a large number. 
They were an hour and three quarters on their way 
down, but on account of heavy wind and sea, three 
hours on their way up. Though substantially the 
same party made a similar trip on the next Seven- 

1 October 3. 

2 September 6, 1873. 

8 July 9, 1873, Union with crew of eight and coxswain, and four 
ladies, ' up river by moonlight.' 



164 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

teenth of June, an excursion on that day did not 
become a recognised custom. 

In most excursions the barge Union played the 
most important part. For more than twenty years 
you find her trips recorded in the log — up the 
Charles to Watertown, up the Mystic River to the 
Mystic Ponds, down the harbor to City Point or 
Point Shirley, and less often to farther places, as 
Squantum and Hull. Finally, in 1896, comes the 
entry : 

* Nov. 9. Old eight-oared barge, Union, 
broken up, her usefulness being past. Pieces 
of her carefully preserved, however. 

' Chas. E. Loud, Capt.' 

These pieces, the bow and the stern, are hung on 
the walls of the present Club House. With the 
Union, large Club excursions ceased. 

What we may call cruises, however, — such as we 
hear of in the sixties, of only a few men, at least for 
the day and sometimes for several days — have 
found favor with some members of the Club down 
to the present. In fact since canoeing began, inland 
cruises have gained in favor, for a canoe offers 
greater facilities than a row-boat for a trip on the 
little rivers of New England. But such cruises will 
best be considered when we come to canoeing. The 
old-fashioned cruises in wherries or other strong 
row-boats have become infrequent since the seventies. 

A typical one, suggestive of that of King and 




THE BARGE UNION 




THE UNION IN MYSTIC POND 



THE EVEN TENOR 165 

Lambert in '68, 1 was made by F. W. Sargent and 
E. B. Robins in '71. Starting on the eleventh of 
July, they dined at Point Shirley, which they left 
early in the afternoon, notwithstanding the fact that 
Louisa was then weaving her spells there. A heavy 
rain forced them to put in to Lovell Island to spend 
the night. The next day, having gone by way of 
Gloucester and the Annisquam River — they make 
no mention of the old ' Squam Encampment ' — they 
got to Salisbury Point. The third day they started 
at eight in the morning, and at half past ten arrived 
at Rye Beach, where they stayed four days. They 
went back by rail. 

A still longer trip Hall and Eustis made in 
August, 1890, to York Harbor. As far as Annis- 
quam, they took the same route as Robins and Sar- 
gent. Thence they proceeded by Plum Island Sound 
and Black Rock Creek. They had been rowing-mates 
for years, for in 1879 they are recorded as pulling 
together to the Mystic Ponds and back. 

The big Union herself once made a trip that may 
be called a cruise rather than an excursion. A party 
of fifteen, setting forth in her on a fine summer morn- 
ing, 2 left the Club House at half past nine o'clock. 
An hour and five minutes later they were in Shirley 
Gut. An hour and three minutes after that they 
were landing at Nahant, where they had lunch. At 
twenty-two minutes of three they left Nahant, and 
at twenty-two minutes of five reached Marblehead 

1 Cf. Ch. V. 2 July 7, 1889. 



166 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Neck. They dined at the Eastern Yacht Club, and 
then went by stage to Salem and by train to Boston. 

Once only is there record of a cruise with ladies, 
an inland cruise. On October 23d, 1873, two gentle- 
men of the Club, each with his sister as passenger, 
started up the river from Watertown, whither the 
men had previously rowed the boat. They reached 
Charles River Village on the afternoon of the next 
day, and there left the boat, which was sent back by 
train. 

When canoes were coming into use but were still 
not common, there were several cruises of a canoe 
and a row-boat together, as in October, 1880, when 
a birch canoe and a boat went in company to Dedham 
and back. And in early June, 1885, after Eaton 
had made a trip in a private Saranac boat all the 
way up the Charles to Medway, he had his boat car- 
ried over from South Natick to Lake Cochituate, 
where he fell in with Folsom in a canoe. Then they 
made the trip that Boat Club canoes have frequently 
made since — by way of Lake Cochituate and the 
Sudbury, Concord, and Merrimac Rivers to the sea 
at Ipswich. From there Eaton took his Saranac 
boat across Ipswich Bay, through the Annisquam 
River, and then along the shore of Cape Anne to 
Beverly Farms for the summer. In this same Sara- 
nac boat Eaton subsequently made a record pull 
from West Beach, Manchester, to the Union Boat 
Club, in five hours and two minutes. 

It is not necessary to mention all the short cruises 




UP THE MYSTIC RIVER 



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LUNCHEON 



THE EVEN TENOR 167 

that have been logged from summer to summer, as 
to Nahant or Nantasket and back. Perhaps they 
should be called anyway long rows rather than short 
cruises. Some of them are certainly very long, as 
W. S. Dennett's, in the Cygnet, 6 Quincy, Neponset, 
Moon Island, down the harbor, etc., 36 miles.' 1 
Two other long harbor cruises or rows were those 
of F. Welch, G. A. Haines, A. A. Martin, and W. S. 
Hall, in the Columba, 2 4 Nahant, Hull, Nantasket 
Beach,' 40 miles ; and of J. J. Eustis and W. S. Hall, 
in the Columba, ' Hull, Downer's Landing, Straw- 
berry Hill, etc., 40 miles.' Though not frequent, 
still such trips have not been so rare as to call for 
notice here unless they were marked by some unusual 
circumstance, and few have been. The visit of F. S. 
Clark and W. B. Clarke to Medford on the Fourth 
of July, 1881, would not have been noteworthy had 
they not found the Minerva Rowing Club — a male 
organisation, despite its name — a scene, because of 
the holiday, of activity and jollity, to which they 
were most cordially welcomed. But the row of Bul- 
lock in August, 1882, up the Maiden River in the 
Albatross and back, a distance of sixteen miles, does 
deserve mention because the scenery of the Maiden 
River has not generally attracted Boat Club men. 
The same gentleman later in that year took another 
unusual pull, all alone in the Bittern to the Outer 
Brewster. 

Messrs. King, Simmons, Robins, and Selfridge 

1 August 15, 1875. 2 July 4, 1878. 



168 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

have been the principal long-distance rowers of late 
years. Of these, the first two have perhaps rowed 
more often together than any other pair in the whole 
history of the Club. The log tells that there have 
been few summer Sundays since 1903 or 1904 that 
Simmons and King have not spent several hours of 
the day in the Evadne. Theirs has not always been 
fair-weather rowing either, as witness the 19th of 
August, 1908, when the twain went to Gloucester 
with such a strong east wind and rough sea, that they 
had to keep under the lee as much as possible, thereby 
lengthening the course to forty miles. 

And now the Muse shall sing of an experience un- 
known to the Club in its earlier — as happily also 
in its later — years, namely, warfare with ' muckers,' 
in the sense in which the word is used by students 
at Cambridge. Waged in desultory fashion in the 
eighties, it waxed acute in the early nineties, and 
then came to an end through the action of the public 
authorities. Deserving though it be of mention in 
song and story, only meagre records of the conflict 
are preserved in the Club archives ; but fortunately 
further information may be derived from the recol- 
lections of Mr. Eaton. 1 

The trouble arose from ' muckers ' of various ages 
gradually acquiring the pernicious habit of throwing 
' mud, stones, and all sorts of missiles at oarsmen 
passing near shore or under bridges, feeling secure 
from pursuit because of the impracticability of their 
1 Sketch of the Union Boat Club from 1874 to 1884. 



THE EVEN TENOR 169 

victims landing promptly from their light craft.' 
Probably the younger riparian males had always 
harbored some inclination thus to harass rowers. At 
any rate, as early as I860, 1 those gentlemen who had 
been subjected to ' very saucy answers ' from the 
girls who were rocking their boats, and yet chival- 
rously refrained from punishment, met with still 
further annoyance returning to the boat-house. ' On 
coming through Brighton Bridge were pelted with 
stones by urchins on the bridge.' This entry takes 
the affair so much as a matter of course that one 
might think the offence usual, but there is nothing in 
the log to suggest the occurrence of similar offences 
for twenty years. Then such outrages became fre- 
quent and several boats came near being damaged 
by them. On one occasion, ' an enormous piece of 
coal, pushed from where it was carefully balanced on 
the edge of a bridge, narrowly missed sinking a 
canoe.' Another time, ' a boat with lady passengers 
received about a bushel of disagreeable street sweep- 
ings from a bridge in Cambridge.' Complaints to 
the police did little good; either policemen were in- 
different, or they were unwilling to compete with the 
offenders in foot-races. But then, as the chronicle 
suggests, it should be recorded in their behalf, ' that 
they were apparently not modelled for speed.' 

Nor were oarsmen themselves, on the rare occasions 
when they did land to pursue their tormentors, often 
able to take effective vengeance. Once, to be sure, 
1 April 1. 



170 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

an oarsman, who had been fusilladed as he was pass- 
ing under the West Boston Bridge, returned to it so 
quickly from the boat-house that he was able to 
catch the boy who had stoned him. Since the police- 
man whom he appealed to refused to interfere, he 
himself took the offender to the Joy Street Police 
Station. The officer in charge at the Station took the 
name and address of the boy and directed him to 
appear the following day for investigation. But 
when, accompanied by his parents, the urchin did 
appear, washed and dressed so well that the oarsman 
could hardly recognise him, the identification was not 
strong enough to outweigh the mother's tearful tes- 
timony ' to the perfection of her son's character and 
to his particular aversion to stone-throwing as an 
amusement.' The boy went home unpunished, smil- 
ing complacently. 

At last conditions grew so bad that in 1890 at the 
spring meeting, 1 the Club voted to give the Execu- 
tive Committee full powers to concur with the Bos- 
ton and Cambridge police in stopping persons from 
throwing missiles from bridges or otherwise annoying 
rowing men. At the annual meeting in the following 
autumn, the President reported that in consequence 
of the vote, the Mayors of Boston and Cambridge, 
the Boston Police Commissioners, the Cambridge 
Chief of Police, and the Bridge Commissioners had 
had a consultation. As a result, all draw-tenders and 
assistant draw-tenders had been appointed special 

1 April 2. 



THE EVEN TENOR 171 

officers, with orders to arrest anybody who mali- 
ciously annoyed oarsmen. Matters now began to im- 
prove, and after two or three seasons, peace and 
security reigned again. But before this happy con- 
summation, Boat Club men had several times taken 
punishment into their own hands and made their 
treacherous assailants feel the might of their blows. 

There was the case of ' Brown,' * who * rowing a 
shell under Longwood Bridge was stoned by three 
well-grown young men, and his shell was damaged.' 
The stone-throwers walked on towards Cambridge, 
and Brown took a few strokes as if going up river. 
But as soon as his tormentors ' were temporarily 
concealed behind a boat-house that stood by the end 
of the bridge, he backed down alongside the float and, 
asking a little boy, the only person there, to care for 
the shell,' he ran up the street in pursuit of the three. 
The good start which they had, had been reduced 
about half when they happened to look round and saw 
Brown after them. * Had they stood together, 
Brown's career might have ended there, but guilty 
consciences (and possibly Brown's apparent earnest- 
ness) lent them speed,' and so they ran as fast as 
ever they could towards Central Square. 

After half a mile Brown had nearly caught ' the 
biggest of the three, who proved less fleet than his 
comrades, and was about to grab him when (hoping 
to elude the grasp) the fugitive " ducked." Now 
Brown's knee-action was noticeably good and his 
1 W. S. Eaton, Sketch of the Club. 



172 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

headway was even better, so that, in " ducking," the 
victim placed himself in the most ideal position to 
receive . . . Brown's . . . knee and full momentum 
just under his rear end. Had the other two 
" muckers " known the distance their friend could sail 
through the air under favorable conditions, they 
would doubtless have surrendered for the sake of see- 
ing his performance, but they disappeared in the 
distance while Brown jerked his prey to his feet and 
thrashed him till two old women threw open a window 
and yelled " Murder." Then, Brown considered 
wherewithal he was clad, and that was for the river, 
his toilet having ' consisted of socks, thin slippers, 
trunks, and gauze shirt ... as snug . . . and light 
... as was practicable ; ' and of this none too ample 
costume, the slippers had been lost in the first three 
strides. Deciding that he was not ' dressed to make 
a creditable appearance in the patrol wagon, Brown 
trotted back to his shell, recovering his slippers on 
the way.' 

And then there was that administration of right- 
eous punishment on the eleventh day of May, 1893, 
which was truly Homeric. The entry in the log states 
only that the crew of the Argo ' spanked fifteen 
muckers who had thrown mud,' but that does but 
scant justice to the actual occurrence. 1 

The paper barge, Argo, with her crew of eight and 
a coxswain, was peaceably making her way one after- 

1 The story is told in Mr. Eaton's Sketch of the Club from 1874 
to 1884, though the event was in 1893. 



THE EVEN TENOR 173 

noon by the marshy shore opposite the old Harvard 
Boat Houses. The marsh then extended all along 
the Brighton side of the river from the Boylston 
Street Bridge to Western Avenue, where it stretched 
inland nearly half a mile — sticky, black soil grown 
over mostly with shore-grass and intersected by 
slimy drainage ditches. 

Now the edge of this marsh was a favorite bathing- 
place for the younger denizens of the nearest parts 
of Brighton. This particular afternoon was un- 
usually warm for the season and the tide was high. 
Consequently a crowd of between thirty and forty 
young men and boys had sought the refreshment of 
the water in the late afternoon, and were disporting 
themselves either in the stream or on its bank in their 
' simple untrimmed " birthday suits." ' 

As the Argo ' passed by, many in this crowd threw 
hastily fashioned mud-balls ' (easily made from the 
sticky soil) w into her with such precision that the 
rowing shirts (some of which had been washed since 
the last season) were sadly soiled, while the expostu- 
lations of the wearers (polite of course) were met 
with rudeness and much profanity; but the crew 
proceeded up stream and around the bend before 
stopping for conference. 

' The extent of the damage to boat, clothing, and 
feelings seemed sufficient to warrant retaliation and 
retribution, and it was agreed that the crew should 
row down past the marsh when returning, and that, 
if mud should be thrown again, as all believed (and 



174 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

of course hoped) it would be, the coxswain should 
steer the boat right up to land, the starboard oars 
being run across the boat, which should be left in 
charge of coxswain and bow, and seven determined 
avengers should be turned loose on the enemy. 

' All worked smoothly ; the mud was thrown, the 
barge came to shore like a ferry boat into her slip, 
and the naked bathers were taken entirely by 
surprise. 

' Through the kindness of an ever-watchful Provi- 
dence, it happened that an old lime cask had been 
stranded on the marsh at this spot, and it was re- 
duced by one kick to a loose bundle of staves, one of 
which was selected by each of the seven, and a start 
was made for victims. The smaller boys put their 
faith in our possible mercy and in their own lies 
(those " ever present helps in time of trouble ") and 
refused to run, so they were spared, but the big 
fellows seized each his pile of wearing apparel and 
ran off in sundry directions across the marsh. 

' Now the writer knows from his own youthful ex- 
perience that it is far from soothing to one's feet to 
run carelessly over salt-marsh stubble, and, although 
he never tried it, he learned upon this occasion by 
observation that it is difficult to snatch all of one's 
wardrobe with one hand and simultaneously strike 
one's best gait, without risk of losing the smaller 
articles. As the pursued ran, barefoot and naked, 
with arms full of " things," and their speed acceler- 
ated by the judicious and hearty application of the 



THE EVEN TENOR 175 

barrel staves, odd shoes, socks, and underclothes be- 
gan to drop here and there unnoticed by their 
owners. The . . . scene . . . reminded the writer 
of ah illustration in his old Robinson Crusoe, show- 
ing the pursuit of shipwrecked mariners by savages 
with uplifted tomahawks. His own two victims fool- 
ishly ran side by side, and so received alternately 
blows behind, responding to each with a howl and 
higher speed. 

6 The open electric cars ran along the avenue 
towards which the writer's party was heading, and the 
passengers (from a horse race at old Beacon Park) 
were hanging on like bees around a hive and formed 
an appreciative audience, greeting the runners with 
words of encouragement and peals of laughter. And 
so we ran, pursuer and pursued, until one of the 
writer's pair, looking around, failed to see before 
him a deep ditch, full of water and covered with green 
scum and into this he fell, clothes and all. His pur- 
suer was so weak with running and laughing simul- 
taneously that he left him there; his mate may be 
running yet. 

* The view of the whole marsh, as the crew reas- 
sembled at the boat, was almost pathetic, for it was 
dotted here and there by the naked men sadly search- 
ing for lost articles of clothing, and as a general 
thing, soothing the damaged portions of their hides 
with at least one hand. 

' The crew reached home a little later than usual. 
. . . Upon rowing purposely by the marsh the next 



176 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

evening, neither mud nor " language " was forth- 
coming, and there appeared to some to be an unusual 
stiffness in the movements of the bathers.' 

Such is the account, by a participant, of the most 
memorable land-battle in which the forces of the 
Union Boat Club have ever engaged. 

Apart from fights with i muckers,' few startling 
adventures have befallen the members of the Boat 
Club; fortunately, and rather remarkably, no seri- 
ous accident has come to any of them as oarsmen. 
Once, though, the log has a grim entry : 

' M 21 1 C°l um ba 1 

J ' Nautilus j 
Found male corpse in stream, towed to West 
Boston Bridge boathouse, delivered to officer 
121 Boston Police — $5.00.' 

And Death has not always kept away from the 
club-house. Richard Hodgson died in it from heart 
disease while playing hand-ball in December, 1905. 
And in 1896 the janitor's little boy was drowned by 
falling from one of the rafts. Save for the drowning 
of one of the St. Alphonsus crew in the squally 
Fourth of July regatta of 1909, previously men- 
tioned, no other drowning accident in the river has 
affected the Club even remotely. 

For the most part, happily enough, not the Tragic 
but the Comic Muse has stood by, when the Muse of 
History has written down accidents in Boat Club 

1 1875. 



THE EVEN TENOR 177 

records. Sometimes, to be sure, these may have 
seemed serious, as when Clarke, Bullock, and Park- 
man, on a row to City Point, 1 ' rescued officers of 
steamer Australia of Anchor Line from sinking cat- 
boat.' Or again when the Daisy 2 ' sailed up to 
Longwood ; picked up three men who had been upset.' 
Probably on each occasion there would have been 
others to act as life-savers, had not Union Boat Club 
men been near. 

Besides, there was the singular accident of Dr. Rus- 
sell Sturgis on June 8th, 1894. Returning from a 
row up the river, he collided about two hundred yards 
from the boat-house with a shell of the Boston Ath- 
letic Association. Though a great splinter, eighteen 
inches long, pierced entirely through his ankle, he 
kept his boat afloat to the raft. Then with the splin- 
ter still in him, he drove to the Massachusetts Gen- 
eral Hospital, and had his ankle photographed be- 
fore the splinter was taken out. He was none the 
worse for his experience. 

But more often the disasters with which members 
of the Club have been concerned have been of the 
mildest. Thus when a crew of four and a coxswain 3 
had gone up by the Cambridge shore, on the return 
they ' swamped and swam ashore by foot of Pinckney 
Street.' On two successive days in August, 1873, 
the four-oared Triton encountered a squall and was 
' sunk nearly.' Many a boat, like a certain Randan, 4 

1 June 5, 1881. 2 May 9, 1886. 

3 April 11, 1881. * June 3, 1873. 



178 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

has ' navigated every flat in the basin ' ; or like an- 
other on the same day, has ' rowed up flat. Came 
back sharp. Natural result.' Almost every season 
some craft has got damaged by running into some- 
thing — anything from the Harvard Bridge (or, even 
more ignominious, the river-bank) to drift-wood — 
which adventures are seldom logged nowadays. The 
Historian himself on one occasion, rowing well out in 
midstream between the West Boston and the Craigie 
Bridges, suddenly felt and heard his wherry bump 
some object violently. He expected to find that he 
had collided with a barrel, forcibly enough, it seemed 
to him, to have stove in the side of the boat; but it 
was only the head of a man who had swum out from 
a group of bathers on the Cambridge shore. The 
swimmer, who seemed less affected by the shock than 
the wherry, declined all offers of aid, gave no ear to 
apologies, and struck out resolutely for the bank, 
but he was angry. The Historian, however, could 
not but think that since the swimmer could see where 
he was going without turning his head, and since the 
Historian at his oars could not, it was the duty of 
the swimmer to look out for the rower. However, 
though there are regulations that steam craft shall 
look out for sailing craft, and sailing craft for row- 
ing craft, the Historian has never heard quoted any 
admiralty law on the respective rights of oarsmen 
and swimmers in navigable waters. 



VII 
NEW WATERS 

SO far, we may say, the Boat Club, since its dar- 
ing voyages of discovery in the late sixties, 
those years of transformation, has ventured only 
little by little into new waters. In its greater barge, 
Union, the Union of its entire fellowship, we have 
not seen it make any subsequent excursion far be- 
yond the point to which its last one had carried it. 
But we come now to the history of excursions again 
into waters that were unknown. Two or three 
caused at the time no little apprehension to conserva- 
tive members of the Club, but we can see now that 
not one seriously threatened it with shipwreck. 
Among these far-reaching and for the moment dan- 
gerous-looking experiments, may be classed some 
of the changes in the constitution since 1870 ; if not 
radical themselves, they have been the result of 
changes forced upon the Club that were radical. 
Others, on the contrary, though important, have in- 
volved no departure from old traditions. We may 
as well, however, for the sake of convenience, speak 
here of all the more considerable changes in the 
Club's present, or fifth, constitution. 

Adopted in 1870, this was a logical outgrowth of 
179 



180 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the fourth constitution, which served the Club in the 
sixties. The limit of membership was what it had 
been made only two weeks before the expiration of 
the older constitution — one hundred and fifty. 
There were two more officers now than formerly; 
that is, besides the President, Captain, Lieutenant, 
Treasurer, and Secretary, there was a Vice-Presi- 
dent; instead of two Directors, there were three; 
and all together, instead of constituting a ' Board 
of Directors,' now constituted the ' Executive Com- 
mittee.' They were still to be elected annually the 
first week in March, only no longer on a Wednesday 
but on a Monday, which has remained the day for 
regular Club meetings. Monthly meetings were con- 
tinued, but the Executive Committee might at their 
discretion dispense with any which they deemed un- 
necessary, whereas previously the Board of Directors 
had been allowed to dispense only with meetings from 
November to February. The dues of each member 
were to be an annual assessment of twenty-five dol- 
lars, as heretofore, and an entrance fee of twenty- 
five dollars instead of only twenty dollars. Candi- 
dates for admission might be proposed at any 
meeting of the Club. If then ' favorably re- 
ported upon by a majority of the Executive Com- 
mittee,' 2 they were to be voted on in secret ballot 
by the whole Club at the next regular meeting. 
As a rule the Club in such cases only ratified the 
action of the Executive Committee. In short, there 

1 Article XIII of by-laws. 



NEW WATERS 181 

was nothing essential in the old constitution which 
was not incorporated in the new; but the new had 
two articles to which nothing in the old corresponded. 
One was on ' Property,' x a matter of more conse- 
quence to the Club in its new house with its new 
equipment than it had been when the Club was the 
uncertain tenant of Mr. Braman. The other was 
the article on the 'Agreement with the Union Boat 
Club Association,' 2 which naturally had not been 
needed before, since there had been no Boat Club 
Association before. The less important of the seven- 
teen articles of the old constitution were incorporated 
in the by-laws of the new one. The new constitution 
itself contained only nine articles; but its by-laws, 
relating to the duties of officers, meetings of the 
Club and of the Executive Committee, election of 
members, and the like, were three times as many as 
in the old constitution and more definite. 

The first important change in the new constitu- 
tion was an amendment in 1875 to make the limit 
of membership two hundred instead of one hundred 
and fifty. 3 The demand for membership still in- 



1 Article V of the present constitution. 

2 Article VIII of the present constitution till the entire article 
was struck out, June 15, 1909. 

3 July 12. The change came about because two candidates were 
proposed when the Club was full, and there was doubt of the pro- 
priety of receiving proposals under such circumstances. Just when 
the Club got over its scruples about having a waiting-list is not 
recorded. In 1892, however, when it was announced at the annual 
meeting, November 12th, that there were twenty names on the 
waiting-list, the list had apparently existed for some time. 



182 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

creased so much that at a special meeting in 1889, 1 
it was voted that the number of active members 
should be * exclusive of those of more than twenty 
years' continuous membership.' In 1902 it was 
proposed to increase this number to two hundred and 
fifty; but though the matter was discussed at the 
annual meeting, no action was taken. A greater 
expansion was proposed in 1909, when several con- 
stitutional changes were made to meet new conditions 
forced on the Club by the construction of the 
Charles River Embankment. To help defray the 
annual expenses, which were much increased by the 
necessity of maintaining a boat-house distinct from 
the club-house, it was necessary to receive more 
dues. Accordingly it was voted, at a special meet- 
ing on June 15th, to raise the number of active 
members to three hundred — as before, ' exclusive 
of those of more than twenty years' continuous mem- 
bership ' — and also to provide for not more than 
twenty life members, who should pay five hundred 
dollars each — these, also, in addition to the three 
hundred active members. Besides, provision is still 
made for honorary membership, as it has been from 
the early days of the Club. And so in all there may 
be in the Union Boat Club to-day, honorary members, 
twenty life members, a varying number of active mem- 
bers of more than twenty years' continuous member- 
ship, and three hundred other active members of less. 
With the increase of membership in 1875 to two 

1 April 30. 



NEW WATERS 183 

hundred, the ratification by the whole Club of the 
decisions of the Executive Committee in regard to 
candidates for election became more than ever a 
mere form. It was voted, therefore, in 1880, 1 to 
have a special committee to elect new members ; and 
the article of the constitution relating to officers 
was amended by the addition of the words : ' There 
shall be a Committee on Elections which shall be 
chosen at the same time and for the same period 
as the Executive Committee.' After this Committee 
on Elections had lived for twenty-six years, it oc- 
curred to the Club that its functions had been 
perfectly well performed in earlier days by the 
Executive Committee, and that there was no good 
reason why the Club machinery should not be simpli- 
fied by making the Executive Committee again the 
Election Committee, only without the old empty 
formality of the Club's ratification. And so at the 
November meeting in 1906, the clause of Article VII 
which had created the Committee on Elections was 
struck out, and all changes were made in the by- 
laws necessary to give the Executive Committee 
power to elect new members. 2 

1 October 4. 

2 When the Committee on Elections was created, necessary amend- 
ments in the by-laws were also made, providing that the Committee 
should consist of nine members, of whom the Secretary should be 
one ex officio. Probably it was by force of custom, since the Execu- 
tive Committee had previously had supervision of candidates, that 
in the first year of the existence of the Election Committee, five of 
its members — that is, a majority — were also members of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee. So it was the next year. The year after, only 



184 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Another change, accomplished at the same time as 
the creation of the Election Committee, was the 
abolition of the monthly meetings, which had re- 
placed the weekly meetings of the first years of 
the Club. It was a wise provision of the new con- 
stitution that the Executive Committee might, at 
their discretion, omit any monthly meetings, win- 
ter or summer, instead of only in the winter, as 
previously. But still there were more meetings than 
necessary. Unless men knew that some question of 
importance was coming up, they would not take the 
trouble to be present; and so in the autumn of '72, 
the Secretary's records for four meetings in suc- 
cession have the entry, 6 No quorum.' 

Accordingly it was proposed to change the 
monthly to quarterly meetings. Since even these 
seemed unnecessarily frequent, when the Club came 
to vote the meetings were cut down to only two a 
year as at present — one primarily for the election 
of officers, on the second Monday of November, 
called the annual meeting, and one for such business 
as might come up, on the first Monday of April. 
Provision was made for calling special meetings when- 
ever they might appear necessary. Previously — 
April 1st, 1878 — the Club had voted to change 
the annual meeting for the election of officers from 
March to November. Election on the latter date 

three of the Election Committee were members also of the Executive 
Committee. In later years, it came to be usual for the two committees 
to be quite distinct except for the Secretary, who was always ex 
officio a member of both. 



NEW WATERS 185 

gave the officers more time to plan the work of 
the Club for the summer. 

Still there was agitation from time to time for 
a return to monthly meetings, and finally, in the 
spring of 1891, the matter was put to vote. The 
attempt to reestablish the old system failed, and 
since then the Club has been content with only 
two regular meetings a year. Once at least, 1 there 
was so little interest in the spring meeting that not 
only was there no quorum, but the Executive Com- 
mittee did not name a subsequent day for a post- 
poned meeting, as they have done sometimes. That 
year had only one meeting. 

In regard to dues also, the present constitution 
has been amended and re-amended. As the Club 
became prosperous, it voted in May, 1879, to reduce 
the entrance fee from twenty-five dollars to ten, as 
it had been early in the sixties, and all through the 
fifties, except in the first two years, when it was 
only five dollars. It voted also to take off five 
dollars from each man's annual dues for every five 
years of continuous membership, till the dues got 
down to five dollars, below which they should not go. 
That is, a member of more than five and less than 
ten years should pay twenty dollars a year; one of 
more than ten and less than fifteen years should 
pay fifteen dollars; and so on, till twenty years of 
continuous membership should make the dues only 
five dollars. 

1 April 6, 1885. 



186 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

This sweeping reduction proved too generous. 
A motion was accordingly made at the November 
meeting of 1894 to raise the entrance fee again 
to twenty-five dollars. Though laid on the table 
then, it was carried at the next meeting — that is, 
in April, 1895 — since when the entrance fee has 
been unchanged. 1 

The revenue still was not enough for the expenses 
of the Club after it was obliged, by reason of the 
construction of the Charles River Embankment, to 
build and take care of two new houses. At the 
special meeting of June 15th, 1909, when the consti- 
tution was amended in regard to membership, it was 
also amended in regard to dues by extending the 
period before the first curtailment from five years 
to ten. This meant that one who had been a mem- 
ber between twenty and twenty-five years should 
now pay an annual assessment of ten dollars in- 
stead of five. Moreover, this should be the limit 
of the reduction. But men who had got down to 
paying only five dollars should not have their dues 
raised. 

Though the plan was expected at the end of five 
years to give an annual increase of about $1000, 
the expenses of the two new houses have been such 

1 A still further increase in the Club revenues, but only a slight 
one, was effected in 1905, when the Executive Committee decided 
to charge two dollars a year for the use of a locker. Though there 
was some opposition, the Club at the annual meeting endorsed the 
action of the Executive Committee. Subsequently the charge was 
raised to three dollars. 



NEW WATERS 187 

that even with the recently increased membership, 
the revenues of the Club have not sufficed to defray 
them. And so, at the regular April meeting of 1911, 
it was voted to increase all the annual dues by five 
dollars, except of those veterans who were already 
paying only five dollars. By this plan it is hoped 
that the Club will have revenue enough for years to 
come. 

Two new officers have been created since the adop- 
tion of the present constitution, a Second and a 
Third Lieutenant, one in 1904 and the other in 
1911. The reason for the creation of each was 
that the Captain and the Lieutenant — subsequently 
Lieutenants — were overburdened by their work in 
supervising the boats and acting as a House 
Committee. The two new Lieutenants, like the 
Captain, the Treasurer, the Secretary, and the 
First Lieutenant, are exempted from annual 
dues. 

Since rowing on Sunday had never been frowned 
on even in the earliest days of the Club, it was 
hardly logical that a by-law of the constitution of 
1870 should provide not only that there should be 
no ' playing for money at any time ' in the Club 
House, but also ' no games ... on the Sabbath.' 
This was very sensibly amended by striking out 
all reference to the Sabbath, so that now the ar- 
ticle reads : ' There shall be no playing for money 
in the Club-House at any time.' Since then Sunday 
noon has proved a favorite time for games of hand- 



188 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

ball or squash for members on their way home from 
church. 

Except for the increase in membership, which is 
more than double what it could be before the amend- 
ment of 1875, no changes in the constitution of 
1870 have been so important as those regarding the 
relations of the Union Boat Club and the Union Boat 
Club Association. This was the official name of the 
stock company that had been formed in 1869 in 
order to make possible the purchase of land from 
the Braman estate and the building of a Club House. 
Each member of the Association subscribed to at 
least one share of the stock, at fifty dollars a share, 
and some to twenty or twenty-five shares. Every 
member of the Association had to be a member of 
the Club, and every member of the Club who wished 
might become a member of the Association. About 
three quarters of the members did so. The Asso- 
ciation held the title to the land, which was leased 
to the Club according to terms fixed by the eighth 
article of the Constitution. 

It is a long story, that of the gradual changes 
by which the Association went out of existence and 
the whole Club became the owner of its house and 
land, instead of the tenant, with a part of the Club 
for landlord ; though even to-day the title to the real 
estate is held by three Trustees. Since the Historian 
has long been appalled by the proportions to which 
this history is swelling, it seems best to bid those who 
wish to study carefully the relations of the Boat 



NEW WATERS 189 

Club first with the Association, and then with the 
Trustees, to seek them in an appendix. 1 It will 
suffice here to trace the most important steps towards 
existing conditions. 

In 1879, ten years after the Association was 
formed, some members of the Club began to ex- 
press dissatisfaction that no provision was made in 
the Constitution for the Club's ultimately owning 
the Boat House property. Two Club meetings re- 
sulted in an arrangement by which the Club was 
gradually to reduce its debt to the Association till 
this had been paid off in full, when the Association 
would convey to the Club ' the estate, rights, and 
privileges of every nature conveyed to it ' when the 
land was bought in '69. Five years later the Asso- 
ciation, with a generosity which it had always dis- 
played towards the Club, made easy terms for the 
payment of the remaining debt, and the property was 
transferred to the Club. Since this was not incor- 
porated, the title had to be held by Trustees, of 
whom there were three, and so Article VIII of the 
constitution, amended to suit new conditions, was 
now called ' Agreement with Trustees.' This ar- 
ticle was struck out entirely at the special meeting 
of June 15th, 1909, 2 when so many constitutional 
changes were made. Conditions had so changed that 
no arrangement with the Trustees was necessary; 

1 Appendix B. 

2 It provided that one quarter of the annual assessments and en- 
trance fees should be paid to the Trustees. Since no money was in 
future to be paid them, the article became superfluous. 



190 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

they no longer incurred charges as previously for 
taxes, insurance, and the like, though for certain 
reasons it seemed best that they should still hold 
title to the land. From that time the constitution 
of 1870 has had only seven articles. 1 Now leave we 
the constitution and how it hath been altered, and 
turn we unto sports. 

Looking back from the present, one may see in 
Linzee Tilden's voyage from Albany, New York, 
to Havre-de-Grace, Maryland, in the summer of 
1869, a forecast of the later importance of canoeing 
among the interests of the Boat Club. But at the 
time, naturally, no one realised it; nor were mem- 
bers of the Club fired quickly to emulate Tilden in 
the new sport. By degrees, however, enough men got 
interested in it to propose at the monthly meeting 
of December, 1874, * that Rob Roy canoes be pur- 
chased.' The motion was lost, and no similar one 
was made for several years. 

Meanwhile, in 1877, occurs the first mention in 
Club documents of a birch canoe. According to 
the log of June 18th, Eaton paddled one from the 
Boat House to Riverside via the Neponset River 
and Mother Brook, and down the Charles. Little by 
little others became interested in canoeing. In 
October, 1880, three trips in birch canoes are logged 
— one to Dedham and two to Auburndale. And 

1 Article IX, providing for ' Amendment or Repeal ' had already 
been transferred to the by-laws. Cf. Ch. V. p. 100. 



NEW WATERS 191 

the next year, Bullock in a canoe was among the 
earliest men out, on March 8th and again on 
March 13th. 

Still the Executive Committee frowned on canoes, 
whether birch or Rob Roy. At a meeting in April, 
1879, they voted down a motion to order a Rob 
Roy canoe in place of one of several new wherries. 
Though Captain Eaton in March, two years later, 
was authorised to enquire about purchasing canoes, 
when he reported to the Executive Committee, they 
laid the matter on the table. At a meeting on June 
30th of the same year they voted, three to two, not 
to purchase a canoe at an expense not exceeding 
$125. However, at the annual meeting in November 
of that year, canoes at last won recognition. It was 
voted after some discussion that the Executive Com- 
mittee 6 be requested to purchase a Racine canoe 
and another canoe of such style as they may deem 
suitable.' Obedient to this order, the Committee 
voted, on the 25th of the following January, that is, 
in 1882, $450 for the purchase of ' new boats and 
canoes.' 

The popularity of the new craft, once they formed 
part of the Club navy, was immediate, and it has 
been constant. In their very first summer, several 
canoe trips were made, of which the most extensive 
was that of Guiteras and O'Reilly in a Racine canoe. 
They left Lawrence on the 29th of August and 
reached Gloucester on the 1st of September, having 
gone down the Merrimac to Ipswich Bay and thence 



192 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

across to the Annisquam River. Not only their 
time suggests that they did not hurry, but also their 
entry in the log : ' Had uninterrupted enj oyment all 
through, except once, when Guiteras, seeing some 
. . . ; but enough ! ' 

At the annual meeting that year, the Lieutenant 
reported that canoes had made 438 miles during 
the season. Probably this included the mileage of 
one or two private canoes, for the Lieutenant's re- 
port the next year, '83, showed only two canoes 
owned by the Club, that had paddled only 213 miles. 
If the number was increased in the next few years, 
it was not increased adequately, for at the spring 
meeting of 1886, there were urgent inquiries as to 
what had been done about canoes. The Captain 
replied that soon the Club would be properly 
equipped with them, and his report in November 
showed four in the navy. The next year there were 
seven — three birch canoes, two Racine, and two 
Rob Roy. At some scratch races of the Club in 
the following June, * open canvas canoes ' were en- 
tered, but no official records show that they were 
Club property. A year later, in 1889, there were 
eight canoes in the navy, including one canvas canoe, 
the first recorded as belonging to the Club. Still 
these were not enough, for in 1893, the Lieutenant 
reported that more canoes were the only real need 
in the fleet. The Club has never thought it ad- 
visable, however, to make the number of its paddling 
canoes much larger. For the last fifteen years or so 



NEW WATERS 193 

it has usually maintained about ten, though at 
present the number has fallen to three. 

These figures show that for some years now canoes 
have been in considerable use. Every summer there 
are late afternoons when the wind drops and the 
Charles stretches out silvery and unruffled, inviting 
a leisurely little paddle as the sun gets low, and the 
shells — singles, doubles, fours, and occasionally 
eights — take their strong quick flight up the river 
and then back again. But more often a canoe is 
taken out for an all-day paddle, with a lunch basket 
shaded from the sun under the stern-seat — up the 
Charles to Watertown or beyond, or up the Mystic 
to Winchester. Or better yet, after shipping the 
canoe by freight or express, you board the train for 
some inland station near a pleasant stream. Then 
if the canoe has arrived on time and if its canvas 
bottom has not been ripped in transportation, after 
you have got it to the water somehow — generally 
no wagon is available, and a canoe that you carry 
yourself is very heavy and unwieldy — then, if the 
weather is favorable and you do not get bruised by 
rocks — or drowned — from upsetting in rapids, 
you can have one of the gladdest days in human 
life as you float down one of the lovely little rivers 
that bless New England. 

It was a long canoe trip, we know — C. Linzee 
Tilden's — a very long one and down large rivers, 
too, that introduced canoeing to the notice of the 
Boat Club. Directly the sport had been officially 



194 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

sanctioned by the Executive Committee's buying two 
canoes, trips of greater or less length on inland 
waters became fairly frequent. Guiteras and 
O'Reilly, emboldened by their four-day trip in '82, 
took one in '83 of eleven days, down the Connecticut 
River. The year following a birch canoe of the 
Club made a trip of seventy-five miles down the 
Housatonic River. Mention has been made 1 of the 
trips in June, 1885, of Folsom in a canoe and 
Eaton in a Saranac from Lake Cochituate to the 
sea by the Sudbury, Concord, and Merrimac rivers. 
The next year 2 Eaton, again in his Adirondack 
boat, made a trip notable because few if any have 
repeated it — from Canton up the Neponset to Wal- 
pole, and then by Stop River to the Charles at 
Medfield, and down to South Natick. And so it goes. 
No subsequent year has been without some such trip, 
though latterly the custom has increased of making 
two- or three-day trips on successive Sundays — 
starting from town in the morning and coming 
back at night — rather than on two or three days 
consecutively. 

It was not all summer canoeing either in the old 
days. There was the determined enthusiasm for the 
sport which is inspired by novelty, as appears from 
an entry in the log for December 6th, 1885, when 
Wigglesworth and Harding set out in a canoe for 
Winchester, accompanied by Eaton in the old 
wherry Albatross. 6 Temperature at start 24°. 

1 See Ch. VI. 2 May 1-3. 



NEW WATERS 195 

Progress stopped by solid ice on Mystic Reservoir. 
Oars, paddles, and boats coated with ice. Strong 
N.W. to S.W. wind and white caps.' 

Another unusual exploit in canoeing was a sail 
some years later 1 from Boston to Beverly Farms, 
and back the next day. Apart from the contests 
of the bird-catching Iris and the Ripple already 
noticed, 2 no other achievement of sailing-canoes 
seems especially worthy of mention, till we come to 
the summer of 1910. In that year a syndicate of 
twenty-five members of the Club bought five sailing- 
canoes of the kind much used for racing within a 
few years at the Thousand Islands and other places. 
Mr. Herman D. Murphy, the artist, has been the 
prime mover in interesting the Club in this kind 
of racing, in which he himself has won many prizes. 
The sport has its exhilaration, as you sit out on 
the end of a board over the water, beyond the gun- 
wale of your canoe, trying by balancing to keep her 
upright. It is good exercise, too, not only by 
reason of the work in managing your canoe, but also 
by reason of the swimming and the climbing in again, 
when it has capsized or otherwise pitched you out. 
So far no one else in the Club has attained to Mr. 
Murphy's skill. Nor has anyone been drowned — 
yet. 

Some years ago — but not often — the Club had 
canoe sports, such as: 'Water Tournament. Three 
men in a canoe. The middle man standing and armed 
1 June 11 and 12, 1892. * See p. 134. 



196 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

with a pole to knock the middle man out of the 
opposing canoe.' 1 And in the nineties, which were 
the palmy days of canoeing, came the purchase of 
the so-called ' war canoe,' Mahnahpeezee. She could 
carry a dozen men, and she made several trips in 
company with the famous barge, Union. Her last 
trip as one of the fleet of the Union Boat Club was 
in 1897, 2 when nine men paddled her from the Boat 
House to Longwood Bridge and delivered her to Mr. 
Hubbard, who had bought her. 

In the earlier days of canoeing, when New Eng- 
land streams were still unpaddled and each hardy 
boatman was a La Salle or a De Soto on a small 
scale, some of the explorers, for the benefit of those 
who should come after, instituted a * Canoe Log.' 
It was designed to be not so much a log in the 
literal sense, to record all paddles of the Boat Club, 
including short ones up the Charles, as a guide-book 
for long trips, telling where to * put in ' and s take 
out ' on some particular river, its usual stages of 
water, and what carries had to be made because of 
rapids, dams, or other obstacles. Besides this useful 
information, canoemen sometimes wrote down their 
individual experiences, which added to the interest of 
the book. The ' Canoe Log ' anyone familiar with 
the Club House of 1870 can remember well on its 
rack between two of the long windows of the main 
room. When this house had to be torn down, all 
the books and furniture were moved over to the new 
1 June 15, 1897. 2 May 14. 



NEW WATERS 197 

Boat House to be stored there till they could be 
moved back on the completion of the new Club 
House. Unfortunately in the moving, the * Canoe 
Log ' disappeared and up to the present has not 
been found. 

The trips recorded in it included both those re- 
quiring several days and those that might be made 
in whole or in part by going out from Boston in the 
morning and coming back at night. Of the longer 
trips, which might take canoemen to the farther- 
most parts of New England, there would not be 
space here to mention all, even were all recorded in 
the log. As a matter of fact trips down the dis- 
tant rivers of Maine were not likely to be recorded. 
There would be no use in sending out a canoe from 
the Boat Club when you could hire one in Maine 
along with the necessary guide. 

Except for portions of the Housatonic, Boat 
Club canoemen seem to have known little of rivers 
in Connecticut, and nothing at all of the smaller 
rivers of Rhode Island, probably because neither 
offer trips long enough to pay for the trouble of 
spending a night or two away from home. But they 
have sometimes explored the ponds of Lakeville and 
the neighboring streams in southeastern Massachu- 
setts, best reached by way of Middleborough, for a 
comparatively short carry from the station to the 
water-works brings you to a stream that always has 
water enough for easy paddling to Lake Assawomp- 
sett. The trip does not necessarily involve a stay 



198 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

over night, though it is likely to, because of the un- 
certainty of catching trains. So is another trip 
in southern Massachusetts, through Mansfield, Nor- 
ton, and Taunton. You ' put in ' at West Mansfield, 
on the main line of the New Haven Railroad; and 
after two or three miles of what is called on the 
maps Hodges Brook, you come to Wading River, 
a stream fortunately for canoemen said to belie its 
name. You have the greater part of two days' 
easy paddling from West Mansfield before you come 
to tide-water in the Taunton River near North 
Dighton. 

Another Massachusetts trip, that will keep you 
away for a night or two, is down the Squannacook, a 
pretty little river, wild and swift, flowing from West 
Townsend, where you ' put in,' into the Nashua 
near Ayer Junction, where, if you are lucky, you 
catch a train back to Boston. This you are pretty 
certain not to do, if you find the mills at West 
Groton using all the water, thereby leaving the 
remaining three miles of river to the Nashua virtu- 
ally dry. One does not make good time dragging 
a canoe over a river-bed that is none too smooth. 
For further information concerning this particular 
part of the Squannacook in a dry time, the 
Historian respectfully refers curious readers to 
the present Secretary and Mr. W. F. Bentinck- 
Smith. 

Still another Massachusetts trip which requires 
a night out of town, a trip said always to furnish 



NEW WATERS 199 

excitement, is down the rushing Miller's River, a 
tributary of the Connecticut. The place for ' put- 
ting in ' varies, according to the height of the water, 
from Orange to points above Athol. You always 
find some rapids in this river that call for skilful 
canoemen to navigate. And even the most skilful are 
likely to upset. 

Boat Club trips farther afield, or rather astream, 
have not included the Salmon Falls River between 
Maine and New Hampshire, though glimpses of it 
from the train are always inviting, or (if the His- 
torian remembers the Canoe Log rightly) the rivers 
of the southwestern corner of Maine, for which you 
would have to send out your own canoe, since there 
are not guides and canoes to hire in that part of 
the State. But there are two trips in New Hamp- 
shire, which have been well liked by Boat Club 
canoemen. 

One is down the Contoocook, from East Jaffrey 
if the water is high enough, otherwise from Peter- 
borough, to Hillsborough Bridge. The actual pad- 
dling of the trip could easily be done in one day, 
but it is generally more convenient to take two days, 
going out from Boston in the morning, ' putting in ' 
in the forenoon, an hour or two before you stop for 
a swim and lunch, and then loafing along through the 
afternoon, in sight of the Monadnock range of moun- 
tains, a lovely soft blue, till you get to Bennington, 
where there was, and perhaps still is, a comfortable 
little inn. The next day a long, slow morning will 



200 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

get you by quiet reaches of field and wood to Hills- 
borough Bridge, with peaceful streets shaded by 
fine elms. From there you ship your canoe back 
to town, for the long rapids just below Hillsborough 
Bridge are too dangerous to attempt. 

The other favorite New Hampshire trip is down 
the swirling Pemigewasset, from North Woodstock 
to Franklin, too long to make comfortably in one 
day. A better way is to take an evening train to 
Plymouth, go up from there to North Woodstock 
by the first train the next morning, and then loaf 
down to Plymouth for the second night. It is a 
real mountain stream you start in, with the White 
Mountains close upon you, and most of the way 
down to Plymouth you have glorious mountain views. 
Or if you know this upper Pemigewasset, you can 
get variety by ' putting in ' at Warren on Baker's 
River, which falls into the Pemigewasset at Plymouth, 
from which place to Franklin the trip is the same 
in either case. Baker's River, too, has beautiful 
mountain views, both far and near; but you must 
take the trip so early in order to have high enough 
water that it is apt to be cold. From Plymouth 
to Franklin is a good half-day's paddle. You find 
the scenery, as you get farther from the mountains, 
less impressive, though still lovely, and the river 
deeper and stronger. There are plenty of rapids 
to furnish excitement. In fact in those at Bristol, 
that foam and rush and roar for about three miles, 
there is some danger, though every year canoes go 



NEW WATERS 201 

through them. Franklin is the usual place for ' tak- 
ing out.' 

However, a Boat Club man who is satisfied with 
five or six days of quiet but still beautiful canoeing 
can easily get it on different holidays and Sundays, 
without spending a night out of his own bed. May 
is the best month for such single-day trips, for then 
the little rivers are likely to be high in eastern 
Massachusetts, the days are so long that one does 
not have to hurry to get to one's destination before 
nightfall, and the most delicate spring tints are on 
the trees. April is apt to be too cold, or if a hot 
day does come, there are no leaves to shade you from 
the sun. Unless the spring has been wet, the waters 
will be getting low in June, when a day excessively hot 
is always possible. Otherwise June is quite as good 
a month for canoeing as May. True, the first fleet- 
ing fragile rapture of the foliage is gone, unlike the 
song of Browning's thrush, beyond all recapture ; but 
leaves are still glossy and fresh, lawn and meadow 
and field are green, wild roses bloom on the river- 
banks, the red- winged blackbird calls gayly as he flies 
before you, flashing his brilliant shoulders in the sun, 
and the golden days are even longer than in May. 

But even if you wake up with the call of the 
country in your ears on some very day of days, the 
Historian would not advise a trip down the Taunton 
River from Bridgewater to Taunton, though it is 
an easy one to make from Boston. There is a con- 
venient train out in the morning, and if you fail 



202 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

to connect with one at Taunton, you can take an 
electric car to Mansfield, where you will find more 
frequent trains. At first when you get on the water, 
you will feel the delight of woods and fields and en- 
ticing turns of the stream. But there is little variety 
in the scenery; and since for most of its course the 
river has high banks, if the water is low, you are 
not able to look beyond them. Nor are mud-banks 
agreeable to look at for mile after mile, especially 
when they are no cleaner than they are below the 
factories of East Taunton. 

Another trip which is for high water only, is 
down the Shawshine River. Some misguided people 
will tell you to ' put in ' in Elm Brook, at a culvert 
just below the railway station at Bedford. It may 
be all right to do so in a freshet; otherwise don't 
— unless you want to drag your canoe for miles, 
either wading, or walking on the bank from tussock 
to tussock of marsh-grass, with frequent missteps 
deep into the mud between. After you have traveled 
thus to the junction of Elm Brook and the Shaw- 
shine, and then some miles down the river, and have 
managed from walking and falling in the mud to 
get wet nearly to your waist, you find water enough 
for paddling, and you begin to take some pleasure 
in the banks which from here down are wild and 
picturesque and beautiful. You ' take out ' at Bal- 
lardvale or Andover, as you see fit; and with the 
last part of the river freshest in your mind, you go 
back to town, if you have had a warm sun, now dry 



NEW WATERS 203 

and happy, but if the day has been overcast, still 
wet and cold. 

After this experience on the Shawshine, perhaps 
by way of contrast, you will seek your next canoeing 
on the Nashua, because it generally has plenty of 
water. It is accessible, too, by way of Ayer or 
Groton, for one-day trips. But the river has not so 
much variety and beauty as some smaller streams. 
The upper parts of it near Lancaster, though hav- 
ing more charm, are not so easy to reach or so sure 
to have water. 

Two days or a day, according to where you ' put 
in,' can very well be spent on the Sudbury and Con- 
cord Rivers. You may start at either Framingham 
or Saxonville, the latter of which you will find more 
convenient if you carry the canoe yourself, because 
the station is near the river. In case the water is 
low, do not mind wading for a mile or so below 
Saxonville over a rough bottom, somewhat bestrewn 
with tin cans and other tokens of man. As you get 
nearer to Wayland you find water enough. You can 
reach Concord easily before night, and so take a 
train or electric car to Boston. Since it is only 
a long half-day's paddle from Concord to North 
Billerica (the next natural place to ' take out '), you 
will do well, when you continue your trip, before 
starting down to Billerica, to paddle a few miles up 
the Assabet, which unites with the Sudbury to 
form the Concord River. Or if you want only a 
day's trip, you can • put in ' at Wayland in the 



204 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

morning and ' take out ' at North Billerica in the 
evening. Or if you want only a charming summer 
afternoon on the river, make it from Wayland to 
Concord. That is really the best part of the whole 
Sudbury-Concord valley. True, the Concord itself 
is larger than the Sudbury, and along by Billerica 
it has some rather noble wooded reaches and passes 
a picturesque range of bold little rocky hills. But 
it has not the calm beauty of the wide, hill-bordered 
Sudbury Valley, with its distant views of wooded 
Nobscot and Reeves Hill, nor the charm of the 
smaller river twisting through the peaceful, sedgy 
marshes below Wayland, alive with red-winged black- 
birds, or flowing now and then by a higher, tree- 
covered bank, till it broadens out into Fairhaven 
Bay under steep Fairhaven Hill, and then narrows 
again to flow through wood and meadow to the gar- 
dens of Concord. 

Of the beauties of the Charles at Waltham or 
Riverside or Dedham, it is of course needless to 
speak. They are only too well known; so much 
so as to be spoiled by the crowds that frequent them 
— a raucous phonograph in every other canoe — on 
Sundays and holidays. But above Charles River 
Village, where going up from Dedham you meet the 
first dam, the hordes have not penetrated, and here 
you can find for miles canoeing of rare beauty. 
If you want to see all of the upper Charles which 
is navigable in a canoe, take the train to South 
Framingham and from there an electric car to Cary- 



NEW WATERS 205 

ville in the town of Bellingham near the Rhode Island 
border. Here the Charles is no more than a shy, 
laughing, sun-flecked brook, but in April and May it 
will generally float a canoe. A lovely little brook it 
remains till it gets below Medway. Then it broadens 
out to a river with fine wooded banks above Med- 
field. Below Medfield are marshes through which 
you wind back and forth — always in view of the 
Insane Asylum — till you wonder if you are making 
any headway at all. Then you come to rocky nar- 
rows, with precipitous wooded banks — the haunt of 
Asylum nurses and their swains — and below them 
to stately, placid reaches in Dover and Natick, with 
rolling fields and hills showing between the trees 
that grow here and there on the water's edge. It is 
a good all-day paddle from Cary ville to South Na- 
tick ; a short day's paddle from Medfield, about half- 
way between the two, to Charles River Village, two 
hours and a half below South Natick. You can 
hardly find a better trip of a single day than this 
when you do not care to work hard. 

But to a good many canoemen the pearl of all 
these neighboring rivers is the little Ipswich. If you 
want a two days' trip, * put in ' at North Wilmington 
in Lubber Brook, 1 only a few yards from the station. 



1 A few years ago it was possible, and perhaps still is, to combine 
the Ipswich with the Concord River trip. By part of the old Middle- 
sex Canal, much overgrown with alders, you could get from North 
Billerica, with only a little carry, to the Shawshine. Then from Bal- 
lardvale, with only another little carry, you could get to Martin's 
Brook, a tributary of the Ipswich. 



206 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

The brook, so narrow that often two canoes could 
not pass, flows at first through uninteresting coun- 
try, close by the tracks of the Boston and Maine 
Railroad. Then it bends away through fields and 
woods to empty into the Ipswich, scarcely bigger 
than itself. Below the junction of the two streams is 
North Reading — another place where you may start 
on the Ipswich trip, 1 with the station again con- 
veniently near the water. It is a little stream of 
many sudden turns and much variety — woods, 
meadows, low banks, and steep, wooded, rocky banks. 
At the South Middleton paper mills you have to 
carry round the dam, below which you get a bit of 
swift water. You ' take out ' at Howe's Station — in 
the town of Middleton — where you will find electric 
cars to carry you to the railway station in Salem. 

The second day on the Ipswich is the ' star ' day, 
and so if you can take only one day for the trip, 
' put in ' at Howe's Station. At first below this, 
the stream is hardly more than a brook, with ver- 
dant grassy or mossy banks in a lovely little nar- 
row valley. As the stream gradually broadens, you 
have in succession wider fields, woods, and the long, 
rounded, treeless hills characteristic of Essex. Then 
come the stately trees of Topsfield, the fine arch 
of the old Newburyport turnpike bridge, and the 
quiet Topsfield marshes in which the river doubles 
and redoubles on itself, with hills and woods always 

1 The trip from here is about three hours shorter than from North 
Wilmington. 



NEW WATERS 207 

in sight beyond the levels. Then more fields and 
woods, two carries, miniature rapids, and a minia- 
ture forbidding gorge with hoary hemlocks ; and 
finally at tide-water, the old New England town of 
Ipswich — its growing mill population of Poles and 
dark-skinned Syrians and Greeks in odd contrast 
to its dignified elms and eighteenth-century mansions. 
When you have made these trips, you realise once 
more that your Boat Club is fortunate in its loca- 
tion. So near to it, that you do not have to spend 
a night away from town, you can have half a dozen 
days of canoeing that can hardly be bettered un- 
less you are looking for grandeur in scenery and the 
excitement of danger. 

To those of the Union Boat Club — and there 
are many — who think of it more as a place for 
winter than summer exercise, it will seem strange 
that its winter life has been vigorous only in the 
last twenty years. Though Mr. Rogers says that 
gymnasium practice received much attention from 
the members of the Club in the winter of 1853—54, 
the records show no official provision for such work 
till 1858. From that year on, there are frequent 
references to it. One year a teacher was engaged 
to give members of the Club lessons in sparring ; 1 
another year the purchase of an air-tight stove was 
authorised for the boxing-room. 2 Again, it was 
decided to admit properly approved strangers to 

1 Voted, October 6, 1871. 2 Voted, December 21, 1874. 



208 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

the Club gymnasium during winter months on pay- 
ment of five dollars each. 1 And the question was de- 
bated more than once of enlarging and improving the 
gymnasium. But despite all this discussion, winter 
work was never a success in the Club till the intro- 
duction of hand-ball. 2 

It was in the late eighties that a few members 
of the Club, hoping to increase its facilities for win- 
ter exercise, began to talk about the desirability of 
building a court in the Club House for the game 
of ' hand-ball ' or ' fives,' for it was then often spoken 
of by the name that it had in England. The propo- 
sition filled the older and more conservative mem- 
bers with apprehension. They looked on the game 
as a dangerous innovation, fearing from the enthusi- 
astic prophecies of its advocates that it would re- 
ceive too much attention, and change the Club from 
one for boating into one for indoor gymnasium work. 
Still their opposition was not enough at the annual 
meeting of November 9th, 1891, to prevent a vote 
instructing the Executive Committee to consider the 
advisability of building a hand-ball court. It seems 
to have been a radical, innovating meeting that 
voted thus, for at the same time it requested the 
Executive Committee to consider putting in a tele- 
phone and furnishing towels in the dressing-room, 
instead of having the members as heretofore supply 
their own. 

1 Voted, November 15, 1878. 

2 So says Mr. E. B. Robins, who joined the Club in 1866. 



NEW WATERS 209 

The Executive Committee, finding itself in doubt 
about the advisability of building the court, decided 
to call a special meeting of the Club on December 
16th to vote on this and other matters. Forty 
members responded to the call. Though the Presi- 
dent explained the advantages of further inducement 
to winter exercise, and though several others argued 
in favor of building the court, it was nevertheless 
voted : 

' Whereas the expense of establishing a hand- 
ball court appeared out of proportion to the 
interest manifested therein in this meeting, 

' Resolved, that further consideration of the 
subject be indefinitely postponed.' 

The advocates of hand-ball, however, were not to 
be daunted. In accordance with one of the pro- 
visions of the by-laws, ten members requested the 
President to call another special meeting to consider 
the matter, arguing that the forty members at the 
last were too few to express the opinion of the Club 
accurately, and so the President issued his call for 
a meeting on December 30th, * to take action on 
the following: 

* Shall the Club spend not over Seven Hun- 
dred Dollars in building a Fives Court and in 
. . . making . . . alterations made necessary 
thereby ... ? ' 

There was interest enough in this meeting to bring 
out sixty-three members. Some objected that the 



210 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

question of the fives court was brought up again 
so soon after the vote to postpone ' further con- 
sideration of the subject ' indefinitely, but the ob- 
jections were overruled. Accordingly the motion 
to spend not over $700 in building a fives court, 
with an amendment providing for raising the sum 
by private subscription, was put before the Club, 
and lost. 

In spite of this apparently decisive defeat, the 
advocates of hand-ball kept on with their campaign 
— a campaign now of only persuasion by quiet talk, 
but so well planned and executed that within a year 
they won a substantial victory. At the next annual 
meeting, 1 the Club voted to refer to the Executive 
Committee a petition for constructing a hand-ball 
court with two movable sides and no back; and 
eight days later, on the 22nd of November, 1892, 
the Executive Committee authorised the Captain ' to 
spend a sum not to exceed $60 to put in movable 
sides to the hand-ball court and paint them . . . the 
work to be done in consultation with R. C. Sturgis,' 
who had been one of the petitioners for the fives 
court in the previous December. So here was the 
official establishment of Hand-Ball, or Fives, in the 
Union Boat Club. It began, to be sure, with only 
an open court, whose movable sides were very far 
from * fast,' but it was only a question of time when 
a good closed court should follow. 

Yet for the moment, hand-ball was still on the 

1 November 14, 1892. 



NEW WATERS 211 

defensive. At the spring meeting of '93, a motion 
was made to have the hand-ball court removed; but 
hand-ball was strongly lodged in its new position, 
and this motion of the enemy was lost. Then hand- 
ball itself began an advance which was to receive 
only one slight check. Its supporters spoke so 
eloquently of the need of a second and better court, 
that at the annual meeting x the motion to build one 
was ' referred to the Executive Committee with the 
endorsement of the meeting.' But the Committee, 
without being positively hostile, was unfriendly. Its 
response to the petitioners for hand-ball was that, 
' owing to the extraordinary expense in repairing the 
house it is inexpedient to build a second hand-ball 
court at this time.' Slowly, nevertheless, the idea of 
a second hand-ball court won supporters, and at 
the annual meeting of 1894 2 after several members 
had expressed a willingness to subscribe towards the 
court if necessary, it was voted that ( this meeting 
request the Executive Committee to appropriate $300 
to build a hand-ball court in a desirable place in 
the gymnasium room, and that it wished it be done.' 
No loop-hole of economy was to be left the Executive 
Committee this time to escape by, and so the Com- 
mittee voted 3 willy-nilly ' that a new hand-ball court 
be built.' They were even a little more generous 
than they need have been, for their vote declared 
that the expense should not exceed $400. 

1 November 13, 1893. 

2 November 12. 3 December 6, 1894. 



212 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

This second court was the one in the southeast 
corner of the gymnasium in the house of 1870, by 
far the best court the Club had before it got into 
its present house. If any doubts remained about 
the permanency of the new game, the building of this 
court dissipated them. Not only did the Captain 
at the next annual meeting report it a great success, 
but he spoke of a hand-ball tournament — the first 
in the history of the Club — that had taken place 
in the winter of 1894-95, directly after the building 
of the new court. It was a handicap tournament, 
with twenty-eight men contesting in the open court 
— that is, the court that had no back — and 
twenty-three in the closed court. Mr. Francis 
Rogers was the winner of this first Boat Club 
tournament. 

From that time the march of hand-ball in the 
Union Boat Club has been triumphant. At the next 
annual meeting 1 the Captain called the game more 
popular than ever, and said that there had been 
a second tournament held in both courts. Since then 
there has been a tournament every year. At the 
third, in 1897, the contestants were divided into two 
classes, as they have ever since been divided into 
two or more. 2 Nearly every subsequent tournament 
has either been reported successful at the annual 
meeting or entered in the log as being so, and from 
time to time at one of the two yearly meetings the 

1 November 9, 1896. 

2 In 1901 for the first time there were four divisions. 



NEW WATERS 213 

Captain or some other officer has spoken of the 
popularity of the game as greater than ever. 

Of course with its steadily growing favor, there 
was bound to come a demand for greater facilities 
for the game. In 1897, in answer to various com- 
plaints, better arrangements were made for venti- 
lating the closed court in the gymnasium. Then 
hand-ball enthusiasts began to cast covetous eyes on 
the little lot of land adjacent to the Club House, 
thinking that, whether bought or leased, it would be 
an excellent place for an open-air court. Though 
for years there was talk of buying it, arrangements 
to do so could never be made. The Executive Com- 
mittee voted to lease it, however, in 1898, and to 
build a new court on it, though not an expensive 
one, for the lease might be terminated at a week's 
notice. At the annual meeting 1 of 1899, the Cap- 
tain reported that the court on the adjacent land 
had been built, and was to be lighted with electricity. 
The following winter the out-door court proved such 
a success that at the next spring meeting 2 sugges- 
tions were made for building a larger out-door ' fives 
court ' and playing the game with racquets — appar- 
ently the first talk of playing ' racquets ' in the Boat 
Club — but nothing came of it. The ever-growing 
interest in hand-ball, however, did lead at the annual 
meeting of 1900 3 to a recommendation to the Execu- 
tive Committee, which they voted to consider favor- 
ably, to put in a court with movable sides, during the 

1 November 13. 2 April 2, 1900. 8 November 1. 



214 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

winter months, in the room on the ground floor 
where the canoes were stored. This canoe-room court 
was built the next year. Less than a year later 
electricity was installed in both this court and the 
closed court upstairs in the gymnasium. With this, 
the hand-ball courts reached the condition in which 
they remained as long as the house of 1870 stood. 
When the new house was built in 1909, arrangements 
were made for the construction not only of three 
hand-ball courts but also of two ' squash-racquets ' 
courts. This latter game proved so popular that 
before the beginning of the second winter of the 
new house, a third squash court had to be built. 
The Club has, therefore, at present better facilities 
for winter sport than ever before — three squash 
courts and three hand-ball courts ; and it has tourna- 
ments in squash as well as in hand-ball. 

Not even the bitterest opponent of the new game, 
in the days when it was fighting to gain a foothold 
in the Club, can have the slightest regret that it 
established itself. None of the fears for its conse- 
quences have been realised, as may be seen from the 
fact that when squash courts were proposed for 
the new Club House, there was no whisper of oppo- 
sition to them. Hand-ball has not interfered in the 
least with the rowing of the Union Boat Club, as 
indeed from the nature of the game it could not 
do; for it is too violent and heating to be played 
indoors in hot weather. Rather it has improved 
the chances for rowing, by providing further means 



NEW WATERS 215 

for oarsmen to keep ' fit ' when they cannot get out 
on the river. And it has virtually doubled the use- 
fulness of the Union Boat Club. Whereas before it 
was mainly a summer club, it is now also a winter 
club. Many men get the best part of their winter 
exercise in its hand-ball and squash courts. The 
games are sure to put the men who play them into 
a holiday, boyish mood for at least the hour or two 
that they are at the Club House, and they are sure 
to draw some men there every afternoon. The com- 
mon dressing-room after the game destroys for- 
mality, for it is impossible to be formal with a 
man when you and he are taking turns at the same 
shower-bath. Even if you are not looking for a 
game yourself, the Club House is a pleasant place to 
drop into of a late winter afternoon, for you may 
find a good game to watch, and you are almost sure 
to find cheerful hearth-fires and some good fellows 
in happy mood to chat with. 

Into these new waters, and they have proved very 
pleasant ones, the Club has gone, not without hesi- 
tation, to be sure, — indeed at times only with much 
arguing and urging from its more venturesome mem- 
bers — but still in the end, of its own volition. Into 
other new waters it has drifted, or circumstances have 
driven it, without any choice of its own. Though 
mostly calm, these waters have sometimes looked 
troubled, as when the Club in the eighties found 
itself confronted with a law-suit, the only one of 



216 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

any consequence that it has ever had; and still more 
so when latterly the Embankment threatened to cut 
it off from all access to the river. 

The first that the members of the Club at large 
heard of the law-suit was at the annual meeting 1 in 
1885, when the President stated that M. F. Davis 
of Portland had made a claim against the Club for 
infringement of patents on row-locks, sliding-seats, 
oars, and other appliances in rowing. It was voted, 
accordingly, to have a committee appointed to con- 
fer with other boat-clubs in investigating the validity 
of Mr. Davis's claim. Consideration of this was 
left chiefly to the Vice-President, Mr. G. W. Esta- 
brook, who, as counsel of the Club, explained the 
nature of the claim fully at the annual meeting 2 of 
1886. 

' The suits brought by Mr. Davis,' he said, ' two 
in number . . . are both still pending in the United 
States Circuit Court. As originally brought they 
embrace six patents containing thirty-seven claims, 
but as to three of the patents and all but eight 
claims . . . Mr. Davis has concluded not to prose- 
cute further. 

' The controversy at present is confined to the 
shape of the loom of the oar, the three-armed out- 
rigger, the foot-rest, and the swinging rowlock, as 
to all which good defences are thought to exist. 
If the matter were one where an infringer had a 

1 November 9. 

2 November 15. There had been no quorum present Novem- 
ber 8, the regular day for the meeting. 



NEW WATERS 217 

business interest to protect, the probabilities of a 
successful defence seem so great to counsel that he 
would advise without hesitation that a defence be 
vigorously prosecuted. . . .' 

Even though the Club did not have business inter- 
ests to protect, even though 6 a settlement of all 
claims for past infringement and the right to use 
the present property of the Club in future,' could be 
made for much less money than would be required to 
defend the suit, still Mr. Estabrook advised defence. 
If Mr. Davis got such a settlement and had it forti- 
fied by a decree of court, oarsmen in general would 
have to buy of him nearly * all boats, oars, and other 
appliances required for racing or pleasure-boating.' 
Besides, since the patents in controversy were only 
a few of those issued to Mr. Davis, he might, if suc- 
cessful now, make annoying pretensions in the future. 
It would be to the advantage of the whole boating 
fraternity to have the real status defined of Mr. 
Davis's rights to important devices. Probably other 
boating men and organisations would join the Club 
in defraying the expenses of a defence against Mr. 
Davis's claims. Therefore, all things considered, it 
seemed best to the counsel of the Club to defend 
the suit, even at the risk of an unsuccessful defence, 
which would probably cost $500 more than a suc- 
cessful one. 

On hearing this report, the Club voted to leave 
the whole matter with the Executive Committee ' for 
future action as their discretion might determine.' 



218 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

The Executive Committee decided with Mr. Esta- 
brook that it was worth while to defend the case. 
Their hopes for the co-operation of other rowing 
organisations, however, proved to have no foundation 
in fact. Even though circulars were sent generally 
to oarsmen x about the importance of the suit, the 
Union Boat Club defended it virtually unsupported. 
It took a long time to get all the evidence. The 
matter dragged along so wearily that the Club gave 
a sign of impatience at the spring meeting of 1890 
by declaring its sense to be that it was wise, if con- 
sistent with the counsel's best judgment, to bring 
the suit to a speedy settlement. 

At the annual meeting in the following autumn, 
Mr. Estabrook was able at last to report that all 
the evidence was printed, making a volume of 550 
pages, and that the Club's chances of winning were 
excellent. The case was tried early in the winter, 
and at the spring meeting of 1891, the President 
stated that the Davis suit had been won by the Club 
in all but one small item — something to do with 
the foot-rest. The Club could congratulate itself 
on a substantial victory. 

But the end was not yet. At the annual meeting 2 
came the unwelcome news that the plaintiff had ap- 
pealed the case, and so the final decision was indefi- 
nitely postponed. Not till four years later, 3 ten 
years in all after the Club first heard of the suit, did 

1 By vote of April 4, 1887. 

2 November 9, 1891. 3 November 11, 1895. 



NEW WATERS 219 

it receive a report from its counsel that the Court of 
Appeals had ' sustained in full the rulings of the 
Circuit Court . . . that only one of Mr. Davis's 
claims was valid. As the testimony taken related 
equally to all claims and was thus not separable with- 
out too much trouble to the Court, the Court awarded 
a large proportion of the costs to Mr. Davis. He 
has since petitioned for a rehearing on one of his 
claims on the ground of misunderstanding by the 
Court in erroneously supposing that he had waived 
further prosecution of the same.' The prosecution 
of the one claim must have petered out, for nothing 
further is found in the records of the Club about its 
sole important law-suit. 

An innovation of the summer of 1896 was the es- 
tablishment of a Club Annex at the Riverside Recre- 
ation Grounds. 1 The idea was that members, by 
buying round-trip railway tickets to Riverside at 
low rates, could enjoy the privileges of the Recrea- 
tion Grounds — especially tennis — for less than it 
would cost them to belong to any tennis club. Cer- 
tain courts and dressing-rooms were to be reserved 
for the Boat Club. The plan sounded most attrac- 
tive, but unfortunately it did not get a good start. 
By the time arrangements were perfected, the sum- 



1 At a meeting of the Executive Committee, May 12, 1896, they 
voted unanimously to spend ' (if the Financial Committee find that 
we have it to spend) $100 for going into Mr. Charles W. Hubbard's 
scheme' of recreation grounds at Riverside. At the next meeting, 
May 18, the money was voted for the Captain to use in further- 
ance of the scheme. 



220 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

mer was well on; and then there came an unusually 
rainy fall to put a damper on out-door sports. At 
the annual meeting, 1 the Executive Committee re- 
ported that the Riverside Annex had been of doubtful 
success. The opinion of the Club, however, luke- 
warmly given, was for continuing the scheme another 
year. 

The second season, with better weather, was still 
not successful. Though the Captain, at the spring 
meeting, spoke of the attractions of Riverside, and 
urged men to make use of them, at the annual meet- 
ing he had to state again that Riverside was very 
little used, so little, that he doubted the advisability 
of continuing the arrangement. The Club, however, 
came to no definite decision. 

At the spring meeting the next year 2 there was 
much discussion about the desirability of continuing 
the Annex. Despite the argument that the use of it 
by members was not commensurate with the expense 
of maintaining it, the Club voted requesting the Ex- 
ecutive Committee to secure the privileges of River- 
side again. But the Committee, using its discretion, 
did not feel justified in making the full provision for 
the purpose that the Club had asked for. 

Still the next year, 1899, the plan of subscribing 
for Club privileges at Riverside was tried for a 
fourth time, though only the small sum of twenty- 
five dollars was appropriated for the Recreation 
Grounds. Care was taken to have members informed 
1 November 9, 1896. 2 April 4, 1898. 



NEW WATERS 221 

of their privileges in regard to the grounds. Even 
so, at the annual meeting, 1 there was the same old 
story. The Executive Committee could report that 
only ten tickets to the grounds had been sold. It was 
clearly not worth while to continue the experiment 
a fifth year. 

It can have been only the comparative inaccessi- 
bility of the Riverside Annex that caused its failure. 
Members of the Boat Club thought of it as farther 
away than it actually was because many of them were 
also members of tennis clubs whose grounds were 
nearer. Apparently the teaching of this one experi- 
ment of the Club with a ' tennis annex ' is that such 
an ' annex ' to be successful must be reached very 
easily. 

Much in the later life of the Union Boat Club it 
would not be worth while to mention, even if there 
were space to do so ; and of what deserves some men- 
tion, much deserves only the briefest. Captains and 
lieutenants have still, as formerly, complained that 
members of the Club, by neglecting to make regular 
entries in the log, have increased the difficulty of com- 
piling accurate Club statistics; and still members, 
though recognising the justice of the complaint, have 
persisted in their neglect. Naturally, the financial 
condition of the Club has varied from year to year, 
at times occasioning considerable satisfaction to the 
Executive Committee, at others anxiety. Many 
propositions have been made for increasing the at- 

1 November 13, 1899. 



222 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

tractiveness of the Club, such as novel kinds of re- 
gattas, water concerts, or land concerts, to say noth- 
ing of various entertainments for winter ' smokers,' 
of which some have been voted by the Executive Com- 
mittee and others rejected. Likewise, practical ques- 
tions about rowing have come up from time to time, 
as whether all the organisations rowing on the Charles 
could not agree on the courses to be followed by boats 
going respectively up-stream and down-stream l — 
a matter usually regulated within rather than between 
clubs; and also whether a 'junior membership' 
should be provided for sons of regular members. 
Then there have been particular events, as well as 
general, of more than usual note. At the annual meet- 
ing of 1891 came the news, especially unwelcome to 
those who had been fond of rows up to the head of 
tide-water, that a landing just below Watertown, the 
use of which the Club had long enjoyed, was now for- 
bidden. Considerable regret was expressed, and it 
was the sense of the meeting that if any fault of the 
Club had caused the prohibition, reparation should 
be made. The same meeting was memorable for Mr. 
Henry Parkman's resignation of the presidency after 
holding the office for twelve years — a term of un- 
usual length and distinction. 

Anniversaries have given an interest to the Boat 
Club since 1870 not possible in earlier years, when 
it was still too young to think anniversaries impor- 
tant. We have spoken of the dinners commemorating 

1 April 3, 1905. 



NEW WATERS 223 

the twenty-first, fortieth, and fiftieth birthdays of 
the Club. Since the fiftieth, no important anniver- 
sary has been observed. 

Besides anniversaries, time has brought the other 
inevitable concomitant of age, death, with which the 
youthful Club had but little acquaintance, except in 
the death of Coxswain Allan in 1856. Among the 
more prominent members of earlier days, there have 
died within ten years the founder, Daniel W. Rogers ; 1 
Henry B. Rice, 2 also a former president; A. G. 
Baxter ; 3 and both Henry and Alfred Whitman, 4 
all good oars in the fifties, and all able Club officers; 
and Col. T. F. Edmands, 5 chairman of the committee 
that drew up the present constitution in 1870. 

On the death of each of these, and also of others, 
the Club adopted fitting resolutions. When notice 
of ex-President Rice's death was given to the Club 
at the annual meeting of 1903, it was decided, besides 
adopting resolutions, to commemorate him with some 
permanent memorial; and a committee was ap- 
pointed to undertake plans. But after two years, the 
only report of the Committee was that its leading 
spirit, Colonel Edmands, had been ill for a year 

1 1902. 2 1903. 3 1905. 

4 The former in 1901, the latter in 1905. Their brother, Ed- 
mund S. Whitman, who stroked the crew that won the Beacon Cup, 
died in 1908. 

After moving from Boston to New York, Mr. Alfred Whitman 
in the '70's was a prominent member of the Resolute Boat Club of 
New York, and stroked a Resolute crew that gave a bad beating to 
a Columbia crew that had won at Henley. 

5 1906. 



224 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

and that it wanted more time. The Club accordingly 
voted that the committee should be continued, and 
also that the memorial should commemorate Mr. 
Rogers, who richly deserved the honor, as well as 
Mr. Rice. Action of the committee was further 
postponed by the death of Colonel Edmands. Then 
a year and a half later, the committee suggested that 
it would be better to do nothing further till the New 
Club House was built, which would be begun in a 
year or so. Since then, new conditions have made 
so many demands on the attention and the money of 
the Club, that no more has been heard of the 
memorial. 

It was the fortieth anniversary, in 1891, that sug- 
gested to the Executive Committee the desirability 
of making a complete list of past members. Three 
years later, 1 the Secretary stated that he was com- 
piling such a list, so far as the imperfect records 
would permit, and that the list was to be prefaced 
by a history of the Club by its founder, Mr. Rogers, 
and others. After the fiftieth anniversary interest 
in the history grew, and various members agreed to 
write it in sections covering ten years each. Of these 
only W. S. Eaton was able to say at the spring meet- 
ing of 1905 that he had written his section — from 
1874 to 1884 — in the allotted time. A year later, 2 
he expressed regret that the history seemed to rouse 
but little interest. The Club voted, however, that 

1 At the spring meeting, April 2, 1894. 

2 April 2, 1906. 



NEW WATERS 225 

the Executive Committee should continue the col- 
lection of data for the history. A valuable con- 
tribution was L. S. King's account of the Club 
from 1865 to the occupation of the first house of 
its own in 1870. But the most difficult portion of 
the history to write was wanting — the history of 
the earliest years of the Club, which few men alive 
could remember and of which the records were far 
from complete. Mr. Rogers was known to have writ- 
ten such a history, but he had died in 1902, and since 
then no one knew what had become of it. All at- 
tempts to trace it, the President told the Club at 
the annual meeting of 1906, had been unsuccessful. 
But soon afterwards two copies of it turned up, one 
in some rubbish at Mr. Rogers's own house, and the 
other among the papers of the late Colonel T. F. 
Edmands, who having been a very active and loyal 
member of the Club since his admission in 1868, had 
been deeply interested in its history. 

This was in 1907, and at the spring meeting of 
that year it was voted that the Secretary should give 
all the historical papers then existing to someone 
qualified to edit them. The next year various mem- 
bers of the Executive Committee, somehow fancying 
the present Historian so qualified, spoke to him about 
compiling the history, and the Secretary sent him 
papers enough to give some idea of the task. At the 
next annual meeting * the Club voted him full power 
to prepare the history (allowing him to use existing 

1 November 9, 1908. 



226 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

fragments or not, as he saw fit), though not also full 
time, which was wise if the Club really wanted the 
history finished. Had the Historian had it, he might 
never have got to work. As it is, after he was hon- 
ored by the vote of the Club, he gave the first six or 
seven weeks of each one of his three succeeding 
summer vacations — to say nothing of many odd 
moments besides — to preparing this veracious and 
important volume. In doing so, he has read every 
document of the Club that is known to exist — and a 
great many exist — and talked with older members 
about matters — and there are many such — not 
clearly set down in the records. And he has gladly 
and earnestly tried — he hopes with success — to 
make the history worthy of a Club which seems to 
him deserving of much love and honor. 

There remains only to chronicle the most radical 
change of all in the later history of the Union Boat 
Club, one forced on it by conditions quite beyond 
its own control. It had long been foreseen that some 
day the City of Boston would avail itself of the 
opportunities offered by the Charles River to turn 
the Basin into a great water-park; and soon after 
the Boat Club became a land-owner, some of its mem- 
bers began to wonder whether its riparian rights 
would be protected, if such a park were created. At 
a monthly meeting in June, 1875, the Club voted, 
on the motion of Mr. Henry Parkman, to appoint 
a committee of five, of whom the President should 



NEW WATERS 227 

be one, ' to represent the interests of the Club before 
the Sewerage and Park Commissions ; and to enquire 
into and advocate any measures which they may deem 
expedient for the preservation or improvement of 
the Charles River Basin.' 

But plans for the improvement of the Basin ma- 
tured slowly. For a time there was talk of a half- 
tide dam at St. Mary's Street, just below the Cottage 
Farm Bridge, which the Club with justice opposed 
strongly, for it would have divided into two parts 
the portion of the river most suitable for rowing. 
There was also more or less opposition in the Club 
to any dam at all, even at the Craigie Bridge, where 
it has been built. Conservative members spoke 
against it on more than one occasion, notably at the 
annual meeting of 1894, arguing that the trouble 
of going through the lock would virtually put a stop 
to rowing down the harbor, which has proved true; 
and that a fresh-water instead of a tide-water basin 
would cause malaria and materially increase the 
summer heat of Boston, which has not proved true. 

Meanwhile, from time to time, there were anxious 
enquiries from members about the welfare of the 
Club, in case the proposed changes should be made; 
to which once at least — at the spring meeting of 
1891 — the President replied officially that the pub- 
lic authorities were favorably inclined to the Club, 
and that it would be well cared for should the pro- 
posed park be built. Still, when the changes seemed 
likely to become fact, by the legislature's creating 



228 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

a commission to build the Charles River Dam, the 
Club voted * that a committee of five should be ap- 
pointed to safeguard its interests. The committee 
reported at the next spring meeting 2 that they had 
talked with the chairman of the Commission on the 
Dam and with the chairman of the Park Commission, 
which would probably have charge of the Embank- 
ment if it was ever built, and that both chairmen had 
given assurance that Club rights would be respected. 
These rights, it was further stated, in the opinion of 
the Harbor Commissioners, extended to the Harbor 
Commissioners' line. 

Soon after this, the Charles River Embankment 
was authorised, as it was bound to be after the 
authorisation of the Charles River Dam. Work was 
begun on it in 1906, when, because of its construction, 
we have seen that the rafts were taken away and row- 
ing stopped as early as the twenty-sixth day of 
October. 

Meanwhile the Club began to get alarmed about its 
fate after the completion of the Embankment. As 
a boat club, it could not exist after it had been left 
high and dry by an avenue and a park, unless it 
could get a location for a new house on the water's 
edge; and the matter of getting such a location 
seemed now not altogether easy. Mr. Parkman, who 
reported at the annual meeting 3 for the Committee 
appointed to consider the necessary changes, said 

1 November 9, 1903. 

2 April 4, 1904. 3 November 12, 1906. 



NEW WATERS 229 

that no officials were sure who had the right to grant 
a location. The so-called Charles River Dam Com- 
mission had been originally authorised by act of the 
legislature to construct the dam and to build a con- 
duit at the back of Beacon Street. Then the Boston 
Park Commission had been authorised to build the 
Embankment. Subsequently the building of the Em- 
bankment was taken from the Boston Park Com- 
mission and turned over to the Charles River Dam 
Commission. Although this was to go out of exist- 
ence on the completion of its work, still no provision 
had been made for the control of the Embankment 
when finished, though the Charles River Basin itself 
was to be controlled by the Metropolitan Park Com- 
mission. As a result no commission felt justified in 
granting the Club a location. Unfortunately, con- 
trary to general belief, the best opinion was that the 
Club had no riparian rights. It seemed wise for the 
Committee of the Club to address a petition to the 
Great and General Court of the Commonwealth, 
■ that the Embankment be placed, when completed, in 
the hands of some permanent body to whom ' the 
Club ' may apply for location.' A vote was passed 
empowering the Committee to employ counsel mean- 
while to protect the Club's rights if necessary, and 
appropriating funds for that purpose. 

At the next spring meeting, April 1st, 1907, the 
President stated that the Committee of the Club had 
sent its petition to the Legislature, which petition 
the Legislature had referred to its Committee on Met- 



230 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

ropolitan Affairs. That Committee gave a hearing * 
6 at which the Club was represented in company with 
the other rowing interests, not only in Boston but 
throughout the State, whose co-operation had been 
obtained through the activity of Dr. George B. Ma- 
grath. At that hearing little opposition developed, 
but since that time formidable opposition had ap- 
peared in the shape of the property owners on the 
water-side of Beacon Street. . . . They . . . seri- 
ously object to the location of any boat-house upon 
any portion of the embankment and ' their counsel 
' has informed the committee that he will fight such 
location to the courts if necessary.' 2 

However, the opposition had not prevented a bill 
referring locations of boat-clubs ' to a joint board 
consisting of the Metropolitan Park Commission and 
the Charles River Basin Commission during the life 
of the latter board. When it ceases to exist, the 
power shall vest entirely in the Metropolitan Board. 
These Boards are empowered to give locations to 
organised boat-clubs, taking into consideration the 
length of time during which said boat-clubs have 
owned property abutting upon the Basin ; the length 
of lease is to be limited to twenty-five years and the 
Commission is given power to make such rules, regu- 
lations, and restrictions as it may see fit.' 3 

The consequence of this bill was that the Boat 
Club, which had been only a voluntary association, 

1 February 27, 1907. 2 Union Boat Club records. 

8 Ibid. 



NEW WATERS 231 

voted at the next annual meeting 1 to become incor- 
porated, in order to apply as an ' organised ' boat- 
club to the Joint Commission for location for a house 
on the river-bank. It was also voted that the Ex- 
ecutive Committee should try to obtain this location 
somewhere between Back Street and the West Bos- 
ton Bridge, preferably near the foot of Mt. Vernon 
Street. 

It was apparent before the next spring meeting, 2 
that the location could not be south of Mt. Vernon 
Street. The Joint Commission taking advantage of 
its right, as defined by legislative act, to make 6 such 
rules, regulations, and restrictions ' as it saw fit in 
granting locations, had decided to assign none be- 
tween Berkeley and Mt. Vernon Streets, in order 
that the curve of the river there might be unob- 
structed. Furthermore, the Boat Club proved an 
unwelcome neighbor to dwellers in Beacon and Brim- 
mer Streets. More than one threatened suit if the 
new boat-house should be erected between his land and 
the water. Nothing definite could be decided at the 
meeting beyond empowering the Executive Commit- 
tee to obtain the best location they could near Mt. 
Vernon Street, and giving them also the unenviable 
task of making arrangements for the erection of a 
boat-house with the Charles River Basin Commis- 
sion and the Metropolitan Park Commission acting 
as the Joint Board, and last, but very far from least, 
with the inhospitable abutters on the new park. 

1 November 11, 1907. 2 April 6, 1908. 



232 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

If it could have been definitely foreseen what the 
transformation of the Charles River would be, when 
the Club in 1875 began to talk of safeguarding 
its interests with an eye to that transformation, very 
likely the Union Boat Club would have fared better 
than it did. Perhaps even in the nineties, when the 
project of the new embankment was taking more dis- 
tinct shape, it would not have been too late for the 
Club to get a permanent location on the very edge 
of the water. But in view of its uncertain future at 
the beginning of 1908, the Club may well be pleased 
with its present condition. At the annual meeting 
of that year, 1 the Executive Committee were able 
to state that they had recently 2 received an offer 
from the Joint Commission of a location on the Em- 
bankment, just below Mt. Vernon Street. By agree- 
ing to build only a low boat-house, 3 they had managed 
to avoid a suit from any resident of Brimmer Street. 
The Club voted accordingly to accept the location 
offered, and to empower the Executive Committee to 
have a wooden boat-house erected on that location, 
merely for housing boats and providing dressing- 
rooms and lockers for rowing men. They voted also 
requesting the Executive Committee to prepare a 
scheme for erecting a permanent club-house on the 
Club's own land in place of the wooden house of 1870, 
which was to be torn down. Some fear was expressed 

1 November 9. 

2 November 4. 

3 Having a height of not more than thirty-two feet above the 
level of the outer edge of the Embankment, as voted April 6, 1908. 



NEW WATERS 233 

that the use of two houses might mar the delightful 
community of spirit that had hitherto characterised 
the Club, but nothing else was possible. A building 
on the edge of the water, large enough for the main 
club-house, would have brought on a law-suit. Even 
had it not, it would have been unwise to erect so large 
and expensive a building on land for which only a 
lease of twenty-five years could be obtained. 

That same autumn — 1 908 — the gates of the 
new dam were closed, and for the first time since the 
rivers of New England flowed down to the sea, tide 
ceased to run in the Basin of the Charles. By the 
following spring the Embankment was virtually fin- 
ished. At the spring meeting of the Club * the Presi- 
dent announced that the new boat-house was already 
under construction and should be completed in June. 
As a matter of fact it was used for the first time at 
the Fourth of July Regatta, which was held on Mon- 
day, the 5th, when it was occupied by various visit- 
ing crews. The first Club boat out from it was the 
centipede Whizz-Fish, on July 9th, manned by Cabot, 
Hawes, Magrath, and Derby. Soon after this the 
house was in general use. But its house-warming did 
not come till August 23d, when the event was duly 
celebrated by races, followed by supper on the s deck,' 
with speech-making and singing. 

Meanwhile changes in the constitution already 
noticed, made necessary by the new conditions of the 
Club, had been voted at a special meeting held June 

1 April 4, 1909. 



234 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

15th, 1909. The membership, and proportionately 
the income, had to be enlarged in order to defray the 
expenses of building the proposed new club-house and 
subsequently of maintaining both that and the boat- 
house. At the same meeting full power was given to 
the Executive Committee to proceed with the con- 
struction of the club-house. In July the tearing 
down of the old house began. At the annual meeting 
in November the President said that the new building 
was well under way. Though its hand-ball and squash 
courts were still not ready, it was otherwise completed, 
when, by way of a house-warming, the annual dinner 
of the Club was held in the new building on January 
8th, 1910. Of course all the hundred and twenty-five 
members present were in the enthusiastic mood suit- 
able to the occasion. With this occupation of the 
new house the doubts and uncertainties forced on 
the Club by the changes in the Charles River Basin 
were ended. 

For the present is ended too the history of the 
Union Boat Club of Boston. The year and a half 
since the housewarming, that have rounded the life 
of the Club to sixty years, have added no unusual 
events to its history, though plenty which have been 
noteworthy because of new laurels won on various 
waters, in the recently revived zeal of the Club for 
rowing. This is only one of many signs of the Club's 
vigor. Fifty-eight years ago, the Secretary, in his 
florid account of the first victory ever won by a Union 
Boat Club crew — in the Ripple in that hybrid con- 



NEW WATERS 235 

test at Hull — fancied that the last thought of each 
man before falling asleep for the night, after that 
satisfactory event, was, ' The Union Boat Club For- 
ever ! ' But the men of that day could only hope ; 
they had no reason to believe that the Union Boat 
Club was destined to longer life than any one of sev- 
eral other little rowing clubs which Boston had 
known. We to-day are more fortunate. With us, 
' The Union Boat Club Forever ! ' is a sentiment based 
hardly more on affection than on reason. Needless 
to say, we do not take ' Forever ! ' to mean literally 
in scecula sceculorum. But in view of the first sixty 
years of the Club, we may confidently take it to mean, 
so long as men in and about Boston are interested in 
happy, wholesome, clean, manly sport. 



APPENDIX A 

FIRST CONSTITUTION OF THE UNION 
BOAT CLUB 

(May 26, 1851) 

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 

Article 1. This Club shall be denominated the 
" Union Boat Club/' 

Art. 2. The officers shall consist of a Treasurer, 
Cockswain, and Secretary. 

Art. 3. The Treasurer shall be empowered to call 
all meetings, and preside thereat; to receive all moneys, 
and pay all demands against the Club, and to make as- 
sessments against the members when necessary to de- 
fray the expenses of the Club. 

Art. 4. The Cockswain shall have charge of the 
boat at all times. 

Art. 5. The Secretary shall keep a correct record 
of all the business transacted at the meetings. 

Art. 6. In order to prevent disappointment among 
members, the Boat shall not leave her moorings, even- 
ings, before 8 o'clock without previous information 
being given to the Treasurer and Cockswain. 

Art. 7. Members, by non-payment of their assess- 
ments within two weeks from the time they are notified, 
shall forfeit their claim to the Boat. 

237 



238 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Art. 8. A majority of the members of the Club 
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business. 

Art. 9. There shall be a regular weekly meeting of 
the Club for the transaction of business, on Wednesday 
evening of each week. 

The twelve charter members of the Union Boat 
Club were, in the order of signing their names to 
this constitution, 

Henry H. Seaward, Jr., 
John D. Lund, 
Daniel W, Rogers, 
Daniel L. Winchester, 
Isaac M. Ireland, 
B. Frank Lowd, 
Frank C. Richards, 
Charles A. Cooper, 
Joseph Watson, 

and also Michael A. Blunt, Charles F. Brown, and 
E. D. Carpenter, who, though apparently present at 
the first meeting and afterwards active members, for 
some reason did not sign the Constitution. 

FIFTH CONSTITUTION OF THE UNION 

BOAT CLUB AS AT PRESENT 

AMENDED 

(The Constitution of April 18, 1870) 

CONSTITUTION 

Article I 

Name. This Corporation shall be called The Union 
Boat Club. 



APPENDIX A 239 

Article II 

Primary Object. The Corporation is constituted for 
the purpose of encouraging physical exercise. 

Article III 

Character. This Corporation shall be exclusively an 
amateur organisation. No member shall enter into nego- 
tiation to row a race for money; nor shall the funds of 
the Club be appropriated for prizes, except that a sum 
not exceeding two hundred dollars may be used each 
season, at the discretion of the Executive Committee, to 
encourage amateur racing. No entry in the Club name 
shall be made in any race, unless approved by the Ex- 
ecutive Committee.. 

Article IV 

Number of Members. The number of active members 
shall not exceed three hundred, but this number shall be 
exclusive of those of more than twenty years' continuous 
membership and life members. 

Article V 

Property. The legal title of all property, effects and 
assets of the Club, except such property as is or may be 
held under the Deed of Trust, shall be in the name of 
the Corporation for the benefit of the members. 

Article VI 

Dues. To defray the expenses of the Club there shall 
be an entrance fee of $25, and there shall be paid by all 
members except the Captain, Treasurer, Secretary, and 
Lieutenants, of less than ten years' continuous member- 
ship an annual assessment of $30; by those of ten and 



240 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

less than fifteen years' continuous membership, the sum 
of $25; by those of fifteen and less than twenty years' 
continuous membership, the sum of $20, and by those 
of twenty or more years' continuous membership, the 
sum of $10. Provided, however, that no member of 
twenty or more years' continuous membership shall be 
required to pay an annual assessment greater than his 
annual assessment for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 
1911, and provided, also, that no member shall pay an 
assessment more than five dollars greater than he paid 
for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 1911. The Club 
may by its By-Laws provide for a non-resident member- 
ship to which the provisions of this article shall not 
apply. The preceding portion of this article shall take 
effect as of April 1st, 1911. The Club may by its 
By-Laws provide for a life-membership, to which the 
provisions of this article shall not apply. 

Article VII 

Officers. The officers of the Club shall be a Presi- 
dent, Vice-President, Captain, First Lieutenant, Second 
Lieutenant, Third Lieutenant, Treasurer, Secretary, and 
three Directors, who together shall constitute the Execu- 
tive Committee and hold office until the annual meeting 
or until their successors are chosen. 



BY-LAWS 

I 

President. The President shall preside at all meet- 
ings, and enforce all laws and regulations of the Club. 
In his absence, the senior officer present, with the ex- 
ception of the Treasurer and Secretary, shall perform 
his duties should no such officer be chosen by vote. 



APPENDIX A 241 



II 



Treasurer. The Treasurer shall keep the accounts of 
the Club, receive all moneys, dues, etc., and pay all bills 
duly approved by one other member of the Executive 
Committee, keeping proper vouchers. He shall exhibit 
his accounts at the annual meeting; his books shall at 
all times be open to the inspection of any member of 
the Executive Committee; and he may be removed by 
the Club or the Executive Committee, at any time, for 
refusal to exhibit them, or for any misconduct in the 
affairs of his office. 

Ill 

Secretary. The Secretary shall issue all proper no- 
tices, keep a record of the meetings of the Club, the 
proceedings of the Executive Committee, and of all other 
matters concerning which a record shall be deemed ad- 
visable by him or by the Executive Committee; which 
record shall at all reasonable times be opened to the 
inspection of any member of the Club. He shall also 
conduct all correspondence appertaining to his office. 

IV 

Captain. The House Committee, consisting of the 
Captain, First, Second and Third Lieutenant, under the 
direction of the Executive Committee, shall have charge 
of the boats and all the property of the Club except 
moneys, and shall see that proper repairs are made and 
equipment furnished. 

V 

Lieutenants. The Lieutenants shall assist the Cap- 
tain in all his duties, and shall see that a Log-book is 
properly kept, in which shall be recorded the date of 
each pull, boat used, number of miles made, and names 
of oarsmen. In the absence of the Captain, the Lieu- 



242 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

tenants shall be vested with his powers, and perform his 
duties. The Lieutenants shall with the Captain consti- 
tute the House Committee. 

VI 

Executive Committee. The Executive Committee 
shall have the full management and control of all the 
personal property, effects, and assets of the Club, with 
power to sell and dispose of the same, or any part 
thereof. They shall enforce the preservation of order, 
and obedience to the Constitution and By-Laws, shall 
make or authorise all necessary contracts or purchases, 
but shall have no power, unless specially authorised, to 
render the Club, or any member thereof, liable for any 
debt beyond the amount of money which shall, at the 
time of contracting such debt, be in the Treasury, and 
not needed for the discharge of prior debts or liabili- 
ties; shall have power to employ such servants and as- 
sistants, and make such regulations for the economy, 
comfort and success of the establishment, as they shall 
think proper; shall audit the accounts of the Treasurer, 
fill all vacancies in the membership of the Club; may 
conduct regattas and make such rules and regulations 
therefor as they shall deem wise, give proper designa- 
tions to all boats belonging to the Club, and generally 
do all things for the proper management of its affairs. 

VII 

Vacancies. Should the office of President, Captain, or 
Treasurer become vacant, the Executive Committee may 
call a special meeting of the Club to fill such vacancy; 
should any other vacancy occur, the Committee may fill 
the same by election from the active members of the 
Club. 

In case of and during the illness or temporary absence 



APPENDIX A 243 

of the Treasurer or Secretary, the Executive Committee 
may designate any member of the Club to serve as 
Acting Treasurer or Acting Secretary until the next 
meeting of the Club. 

VIII 

Meeting of the Club. The Annual Meeting shall be 
held on the second Monday of November, for the elec- 
tion of officers, and such other business as may be brought 
before it. A Spring meeting shall be held on the first 
Monday of April. Notices of all meetings shall be sent 
to active members, and posted on the bulletin-board, at 
least three days before the time assigned for them re- 
spectively. All meetings shall be held at the Club- 
House, unless otherwise directed by the Executive Com- 
mittee, at such hour as the Executive Committee may 
direct; none but members shall be present at a meet- 
ing, and it shall be the duty of the active members 
present to vote upon all matters brought before them. 
Fifteen members shall constitute a quorum for the trans- 
action of ordinary business ; twenty members, for altera- 
tion in the Constitution and By-Laws, and expulsion of 
members; but a smaller number may meet, organise, 
and adjourn a meeting, notice thereof being sent, as 
provided in other cases, at least one day previous to the 
date to which such meeting is adjourned. At all meet- 
ings the order of business shall be as follows: 

1. Records of the previous meeting. 

2. Reports. 

3. Unfinished business. 

4. General business. 

IX 

Special Meetings. A special meeting of the Club 
shall be called whenever the President or the Executive 



244 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Committee shall consider one expedient, or whenever the 
President or Vice-President shall be requested to call 
one by the written request of any ten members setting 
forth the purpose thereof. Notices of special meetings 
shall state in general terms the matter intended to be 
acted upon, and no business other than that so specified 
shall be transacted at such meeting. 



Meetings of the Executive Committee. The Executive 
Committee, of which six shall constitute a quorum, shall 
hold meetings on such days as they may elect, and 
special meetings shall be called by the Secretary at the 
request of any member of the Committee, notice being 
given to each member at least twenty-four hours before 
the time appointed therefor. 

XI 

Reports. At the Annual Meeting the Executive Com- 
mittee, through the President, shall make a full report 
of their proceedings during the previpus year, and rec- 
ommend such measures as they may deem advisable ; the 
Treasurer shall present his report of the finances, which 
shall be submitted to the three Directors for the ensuing 
year for examination and settlement; and the Directors 
shall report thereon to the Executive Committee at their 
next stated meeting. If the same shall be approved by 
the Committee, such account shall be deemed henceforth 
conclusively settled; if not approved, the same shall be 
submitted to the Club at the next stated meeting, or 
special meeting called to act thereupon. 

XII 

Election of Officers. All elections of officers shall be 
by written ballot, and majority of votes shall elect. 



APPENDIX A 245 

XIII 

Election of Members. Elections to membership in 
the Club shall be made by the Executive Committee, who 
shall carefully inquire into the character of every ap- 
plicant; and their decision shall be annexed to each 
application, which shall be preserved by the Secretary, 
and shall be the vote on such applicant. One negative 
vote shall exclude a candidate, but no election shall be 
valid unless seven members are present and voting. No 
candidate once rejected shall again be proposed within 
six months. The name of the candidate shall be entered 
in a book publicly kept for that purpose with a state- 
ment of his full name, residence, and place of business 
at least three weeks before being voted upon; the pro- 
posal to be dated and signed by the member making it. 

XIV 

Members. Any member duly elected, and paying his 
entrance fee and the portion of the annual assessment 
corresponding with the unexpired portion of the current 
year, including the month in which he is elected, shall 
become thenceforth entitled to all rights and privileges 
of active membership. Failure to make these payments 
within thirty days shall render such election null and 
void. Payment of the entrance fee shall be considered 
an assent to the Constitution and By-Laws. 

Upon application and approval by vote of the Execu- 
tive Committee, any member, or if no application from 
any member is pending, any candidate for the Club, may 
become a Life Member. The number of Life Members 
shall not exceed twenty. Members shall be given prefer- 
ence over candidates in granting applications for Life 
Membership. The assessment for Life Membership shall 
be $500, provided that those elected from the list of 
candidates for membership shall pay in addition the en- 



246 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

trance fee of the Club. Life Members shall have all the 
rights and privileges and shall be subject to all the lia- 
bilities and penalties of regular members but shall for- 
ever be exempt from annual dues. 

Any active member of the Club or any candidate for 
active membership who resides or signifies his intention 
of residing during the next fiscal year of the Club at a 
distance of more than thirty miles from Boston, upon 
application and approval of the Executive Committee, 
may become a non-resident member. The assessment for 
non-resident membership shall be one-half the dues for 
active membership of the same duration. Non-resident 
members of more than twenty years' standing in the Club 
shall pay an assessment of ten dollars a year. Provided, 
however, if any non-resident member takes up residence 
in or within thirty miles of Boston, he shall thereupon 
become a resident member and shall be liable for full 
dues. Non-resident members shall not have the privilege 
of holding office or of voting. 

XV 

Assessment. The annual assessment shall be payable 
in advance, on the first day of April, at the office of the 
Treasurer; written or printed notice thereof shall on or 
before that day be sent by the Treasurer to each mem- 
ber to address appearing on the books of the Club; no 
claim shall be allowed for failure of such notice to reach 
the addressee. If any member shall fail to pay the same 
within one month thereafter, it shall be the duty of the 
Treasurer to report the case to the Executive Committee 
for such action as they may deem expedient; members 
failing to pay the annual assessment within two months 
may be dropped from membership by the Executive Com- 
mittee. No member so dropped can again enjoy the 
privilege of the Club except by re-election, as heretofore 



APPENDIX A 247 

provided, and payment of past dues. Absence from the 
State for an entire year, or residence in other States, 
may entitle any member to a remission of one-half the 
annual assessment, due request for such remission having 
been made by him to the Executive Committee. 

XVI 

Honorary Members. Honorary membership may be 
conferred by a unanimous ballot vote at any regular 
meeting upon any member who has received an honor- 
able discharge, provided that the candidate has been pro- 
posed as required for active membership, and that the 
name of such candidate has been previously submitted 
by the Executive Committee to the members of the Club 
of more than twenty years' standing for their approval 
or disapproval, and that no objection on the part of 
these members has been received within thirty days of 
the issuance of such notice; and provided also, that the 
notice of the proposed election of the honorary member 
has been included in the call for the meeting. Honorary 
members may enjoy all the privileges of active members, 
except holding office and voting at meetings. They may 
resume active membership at any time by signifying 
their intention in writing to the Secretary, and paying 
assessments from that date, resuming the status held at 
the time of their discharge. 

XVII 

Resignations. All resignations of membership shall be 
made in writing, addressed to the Secretary; and, if 
made after the thirty-first day of March, shall not dis- 
charge the resigning member from his assessment for the 
year beginning April 1. All resignations of officers shall 
be made in writing to the President or Secretary. 



248 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

XVIII 

Expulsion. If any member shall be charged by any 
other member, in writing addressed to the Executive 
Committee, with conduct injurious to the good order, 
peace, or interests of the Club, or at variance with the 
requirements of the Constitution and By-Laws, the Com- 
mittee shall thereupon inform him thereof in writing; 
and if, upon inquiry, the Committee shall be satisfied of 
the truth of the charge, and the same demands such ac- 
tion, they shall request him to resign ; and, if he declines 
to do so, shall refer the matter to a special meeting to 
be called for that purpose; and the Club, after presen- 
tation of the case, and hearing the person so charged if 
he desires to be heard, may proceed to expel him. A 
motion for expulsion shall be decided upon by secret 
ballot, and the vote of three fifths of the members present 
shall be necessary to expel. 

XIX 

Discharge. No member shall receive an honorable 
discharge unless all his dues to the Club have been 
paid. 

XX 

Strangers. None but members and guests, or visitors 
introduced by members, shall be admitted to the Club- 
House. A member may at any time introduce a stranger 
into the house, and shall thereupon register his name, 
residence, and date of introduction in a book to be kept 
for that purpose, to which said member shall affix his 
own name. Such introduction shall not confer on such 
stranger a right of entrance at any other time; but any 
member of the Executive Committee may, at his discre- 
tion, give to such stranger a written invitation, entitling 
him to the privileges of the house for one month. All 



APPENDIX A 249 

persons residing twenty miles or more from the city of 
Boston shall be deemed strangers. 

XXI 

Residents not Members. The privileges of the house 
may be extended to residents of Boston and vicinity as 
often as twice a month, and the same entry shall be made 
in the register as required of strangers. 

XXII 

Suspension of By-Laws XX and XXI. A vote of the 
Club or Executive Committee may suspend the two fore- 
going By-Laws upon such occasions as may be deemed 
advisable. 

XXIII 

Guests Violating By-Laws. Any stranger, guest, or 
visitor, violating any of the By-Laws or Rules of the 
Club, may be notified by any of the Executive Committee, 
through the member by whom he was introduced, that 
he can no longer enjoy the privileges of the Club-House. 

XXIV 

Games. There shall be no playing for money in the 
Club-House at any time. 

XXV 

Jurisdiction. Members shall be within the control of 
the Constitution and By-Laws when in the Club-House, 
or using Club property, and shall then render prompt 
obedience to all orders of its officers. 

XXVI 

Private Property. Private property may be kept in 
the Club-House by permission of the Captain, and on 



250 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

such terms as the Executive Committee may prescribe. 
Such property shall not be used without the owner's 
permission. Berths shall not be let to persons not mem- 
bers of the Club. 

XXVII 

Use of Boats. Those members who arrive first at the 
Club-House shall have a prior claim to pull in any boat 
they may select, except that the Captain or the Execu- 
tive Committee may reserve the use of any boat for a 
stated time, either for repairs or for the use of any 
members who are to take part in a regatta or excursion, 
and except also that the Randan gigs and canoes may be 
secured not more than four days in advance by any 
member, by notice posted on the bulletin-board, — which 
notice shall contain his name, the name of the boat, the 
time at which and during which the boat is wanted, and 
the date on which it is posted, — and no other member 
shall interfere with the use of such boat during the time 
so mentioned. No boat, however, shall be retained for 
such member's use more than one hour after the time 
so posted. 

XXVIII 

Responsibility for Property. Captains of crews, and 
members using single sculls, shall see them and their 
equipments properly housed; and shall make proper 
record of all pulls in the Log-Book, in the manner pro- 
vided in Article V. Members shall be accountable for 
their use of the Club property; and, should any injury 
occur to such while in their charge, shall report it 
promptly to the Captain, and shall be held liable for the 
amount of such damage unless excused by a vote of the 
Executive Committee. None but members shall use Club 
property without an officer's permission. 



APPENDIX A 251 

XXIX 

Long Cruises. When a boat is taken for a long cruise, 
notice of the direction of the trip, and the probable time 
of return, must be posted on the bulletin-board. No 
boat shall be taken from the Club-House for a longer 
time than forty-eight hours without permission from the 
proper officer, nor for more than two weeks except by 
consent of the Captain or Executive Committee. 

XXX 

Clothing. Persons about the Club-House, on the rafts, 
or in boats at or near the same, shall be decently clothed, 
wearing at least undershirt and trousers. 

XXXI 

Hospitalities. The hospitalities of the Club-House 
may, at the discretion of any member of the Executive 
Committee, be temporarily extended to crews or persons 
rowing on Charles River. 

XXXII 

Uniform. The Club Uniform shall be navy blue and 
white, of such pattern as the Executive Committee may 
prescribe. 

XXXIII 

Ensign. The Club Ensign shall be of a dark-blue 
field, with the letters U. B. C. in white. 

XXXIV 

Amendment or Repeal of Constitution and By-Laws. 
The Constitution and these By-Laws may be amended 
or repealed by a vote of four-fifths of the members pres- 



252 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

ent and voting at a meeting, notice of the general char- 
acter of such amendment or repeal having been given at 
the preceding meeting. But no Article of the Constitu- 
tion or By-Laws shall in any event be suspended, except 
as provided in By-Law XXII. 



APPENDIX B 

THE UNION BOAT CLUB ASSOCIATION 

f I ^HE relations of the Boat Club as a whole and 
■*■ the Union Boat Club Association were fixed 
by the Constitution of 1870 as follows: 

' Article VIII 

' Agreement with U. B. C. Association 

' The Treasurer, in addition to such amounts as the 
Club may appropriate, shall each year pay to the Union 
Boat-Club Association for Rent fifteen dollars from each 
entrance-fee, the same amount from each annual assess- 
ment, and a like proportion of fractional assessments 
paid by active members. These amounts shall not be 
changed, except with the concurrence of a majority in 
interest of the above-mentioned Association.' 

This arrangement at first gave universal satis- 
faction. But by 1879, some members of the Club 
began to think that it paid too large a rent, and 
also that it was a mistake to have no provision 
for the Club's ultimate purchase of the property. 
Accordingly, overtures were made for a better ar- 
rangement between the Club and the Association, 
which were forced speedily to their fruition because 
of an article which appeared in the Sunday Herald 

253 



254 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

misrepresenting the relations between Club and 
Association. At a Club meeting which was held 
the next day, the article was duly censured in the 
following resolutions: 

' Whereas : — An article published in the Sunday 
Herald of Feb. 9, 1879, was evidently written or in- 
stigated by some member of the Club entirely ignorant 
of, or wilfully misrepresenting, the relations existing 
between the Union Boat Club and the Union Boat 
Club Association: 

' and whereas : — said article was outrageous in spirit 
and method, and false in substance, and evidently pub- 
lished for the purpose of causing dissatisfaction and dis- 
sension among the members of said Club : 

'Resolved: — That the above-mentioned article con- 
veys an impression entirely at variance with the feel- 
ings of the members of said Club; and that we do 
hereby condemn the spirit which prompted its publica- 
tion, and censure the author or instigator thereof/ 

Before this vote was passed, President H. B. Rice, 
for the sake of enabling the Club to vote the more 
under standingly, explained the relation of Club and 
Association. ' The old boat-house,' he said, in speak- 
ing of the circumstances that had forced the Club 
to purchase land and build a house, ' occupying about 
one half this ground, . . . was in a disgracefully, 
and almost dangerously dilapidated condition, and 
committees had been appointed for several years to 
see if more suitable accommodations could not be 
obtained elsewhere, but without success. 



APPENDIX B 255 

* The rent was $600, besides taxes, insurance and 
repairs ; — amounting to about $900 per year. 

6 In 1869, the Club was informed by the owners of 
the property that the land was not sufficiently re- 
munerative and that we must leave. It was then a 
matter of life or death to the Club — the oldest 
but one in the country, and having a good record, 
— and then it was that some of the members, un- 
willing to see it pass out of existence, started the 
project of buying the land and building this house. 

* It was originally desired to have the Club own 
the property, but practical and legal objections pre- 
vented, it being found impossible to induce all the 
members to subscribe equally, as that would have 
required $250 to $300 apiece. 

* The only practicable plan, therefore, seemed to 
be the formation of a stock company, to be com- 
posed exclusively of members of the Club, the price 
of shares to be placed at $50, so that any member 
could subscribe, which should buy the land, erect the 
building and lease it to the Club. 

' This was done ; — about three quarters of the 
members then in the Club subscribing such amounts 
as they felt disposed to, varying from $50 to $1200 
apiece. Ten thousand dollars only could be raised 
by subscription, and the balance had to be borrowed. 
As this could only be done on the individual and 
collective guaranty and responsibility of five mem- 
bers of the Association, it was considered but fair to 
protect them against any change in rental by a 



256 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

mere change in the personnel of the Club, and there- 
fore the provisions which have been so severely criti- 
cised were put into the constitution of the Club. 

* The land and building, with the strengthening 
of the roof, cost about $25,000 and the moneys re- 
ceived by the Association have been applied to re- 
pairs, taxes, insurance, and interest on the mort- 
gage, and lastly, to the payment of the principal 
of the mortgage, which is now about paid off ; — and 
not one cent has ever been received by any member 
of the Association in the way of interest, dividend, 
salary, or commission ; — and it is this surrender of 
nearly ten (10) years' interest on the part of the 
Association that has brought the finances of the 
Club into their present excellent condition. 

' During these ten years the Treasurer of the 
Club has never been pressed by the Association for 
rent ; — the rent has never, unless this year, been 
paid when it was due ; — the Club has never asked 
the Association to do anything for it which has 
not been done, and in several instances the Associa- 
tion, when asked to bear a portion of the expense 
of certain improvements, had voluntarily paid the 
entire bill.' 

Plenty of entries in the records confirm what 
President Rice said about the readiness of the Asso- 
ciation to help the Club in making necessary repairs. 

The practical result of this meeting was another 
one on the twenty-first of the following April, at 
which it was voted: 



APPENDIX B 257 

' 1. That it is for the interest of the U. B. C. to pur- 
chase and own the boat-house property. 

1 2, To purchase the property for the sum of $18,000 
the following scheme is proposed; — the entire yearly in- 
come of the U. B. C, excepting that derived from the 
lease of the smaller boat-house, shall be equally divided. 
One half to be retained by the Treasurer of the U. B. C. 
for the current expenses of the Club — the other half to 
be paid to the Treasurer of the Association, to be applied 
as follows: 

' First, to the payment of Insurance, Taxes and outside 
repairs. 

* Second, to the payment of six per cent interest on said 
principal of $18,000, or any sum to which said principal 
may be reduced or increased, as is hereinafter provided. 

1 Third, to the reduction of said principal of $18,000 
by any surplus which may remain after the payment of 
the items 1 and 2. 

' If the half of the total receipts so paid to the Associa- 
tion is sufficient to make payment of the items 1 and 2 
and leave a surplus to be applied to reducing said prin- 
cipal of $18,000, the payment of interest at six per cent 
for the second and succeeding years shall only be on the 
amount to which said principal shall have been reduced 
annually. 

' If the half so paid is not sufficient for the payment of 
the items 1 and 2 in any years, the deficiency shall be 
added to the sum of $18,000, or to any amount to which 
said principal has been reduced or increased. 

1 This scheme to continue for five years, and, if at the 
end of five years said principal of $18,000 has been re- 
duced, then the U. B. C. shall have the option of continu- 
ing the same for another period of five years, and so on 
by periods of five years, but if said principal has not been 



258 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

reduced, then this scheme may be abandoned either at the 
option of the U. B. C. or of the Association. 

'When the said principal of $18,000 shall have been 
paid as hereinbefore provided, the Association shall con- 
vey the property to the Club in such manner as may here- 
after be agreed upon. 

' If the property shall be taken by the City of Boston, 
or destroyed, any sum received by the Association for 
said property shall be added to the amount paid to the 
Association by the U. B. C. in reduction of said principal 
of $18,000, and the balance above said sum of $18,000 
shall be repaid to the U. B. C. by the Association, and 
upon the happening of any such event this agreement 
shall be void, unless the Club shall within six months pay 
the balance of said $18,000. 

1 If at the end of any financial year there shall be a 
balance of more than $200 in the hands of the Treasurer 
of the U. B. C. after the payment of all current expenses, 
the amount of said balance above $200 shall be paid to 
the Treasurer of the Association in reduction of the price 
to be paid for the property.' 

It was further voted to appoint a committee of 
two with power to make this offer to the Association, 
complete such further details of the scheme as might 
appear necessary, and execute the completed agree- 
ment in behalf of the Club. The committee appointed 
by the President consisted of J. O. Shaw, Jr., and 
Henry Parkman. 

At the regular Club meeting of May 5th, Mr. Shaw 
read the articles of agreement, which were approved 
by the Club, and duly entered by the Secretary upon 
the records, as follows: 



APPENDIX B 259 

Copy of Agreement between U. B. C. Association and 
Union Boat Club 

The Union Boat Club Association, a corporation duly 
established under the laws of Massachusetts, and the 
Union Boat Club of Boston, by J. O. Shaw, Jr., and 
Henry Parkman duly authorised by vote of said Club, 
at a special meeting called for that purpose on April 21, 
1879, which appears on the records of said Club, agree 
as follows: 

The said Association will convey the estate, rights and 
privileges of every nature conveyed to it by the follow- 
ing deeds, one dated November 1, 1869, and recorded 
with Suffolk Deeds, Lib. 984, fol. 267, from Jarvis D. 
Braman and others, one dated November 1, 1869, from 
J. D. Braman and others trustees recorded Lib. 984, 
fol. 269, one from T. J. Coolidge et ah, dated April 26, 
1870, and recorded with Suffolk Deeds, and one from 
Sidney Bartlett et ah, dated Feb. 7, 1870 and recorded 
with Suffolk Deeds, except the parts conveyed to Sidney 
Bartlett by deed recorded Lib. 999, fol. 266, and to 
Hetty S. Coolidge by deed recorded Lib. 1018, fol. 66, 
to such persons and upon such trusts as shall hereafter 
be directed by said Boat Club, upon the compliance by 
said Club with the following terms: 

The said Club shall pay to the said Association yearly 
in instalments from time to time one half of its receipts 
from all sources except the room now occupied by the 
Dolphin Boat Club, together with any balance above 
the sum of two hundred dollars ($200), remaining in 
the hands of its Treasurer after the payment of all 
current expenses, until the sum so paid shall be equal 
to all sums hereafter paid by the Association for taxes 
of every description, insurance and outside repairs, and 
the further sum of eighteen thousand dollars ($18,000) 



260 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

with interest on all such sums reckoned at six per cent 
per annum. 

The Association shall pay all taxes, insurance, and out- 
side repairs. Mutual accounts shall be stated between 
the parties at the end of each financial year, and interest 
shall be paid thereafter only on such amounts as shall 
be found due to the Association at the date of such 
accounting. 

This plan to continue for five years, and if at the end 
of five years the amount to be paid to the Association 
is less than eighteen thousand dollars ($18,000) the Club 
shall have the option of extending this plan for another 
five years, and if the amount to be paid is then still 
further reduced the Club shall have the option of ex- 
tending this plan for another like period, and so on: 

And if at the end of any of said periods of five years 
the amount to be paid to the Association is not less than 
it was at the commencement of said period, then this 
plan may be abandoned at the option of the Club or 
Association. 

While this plan remains in force the Club shall occupy 
and have full control and management of the property 
except so far as may be necessary for the inspection and 
repair thereof, and shall do all necessary inside repairs, 
shall not suffer or make any waste thereof, nor make 
any alteration thereof without the written consent of the 
Association being first obtained, and upon the abandon- 
ment for any cause of this plan the amounts paid to the 
Association shall be considered as and for an equivalent 
for the use of the property. 

Provided, however, that if the property shall be taken 
by the city of Boston or destroyed the Association shall 
pay to the Club any amount which may be received for 
the property so taken or destroyed in excess of the 
amount then payable to it by the Club. 



APPENDIX B 261 

Provided further if the said property be only partly 
taken or destroyed and the sum received therefor shall 
be greater than the amount then payable to the Associa- 
tion, the Association shall pay such excess to and transfer 
the residue of the estate to such persons and upon such 
trusts as the Club may request as hereinbefore provided; 
but if the amount so received shall be less than the 
amount then payable to the Association, the Club may 
within six months thereafter pay the deficiency to the 
Association and a conveyance shall be made, as above 
mentioned, of the part of the property not taken or de- 
stroyed. Otherwise this agreement to be abandoned. 

All payments shall be endorsed upon this agreement 
and the amounts paid for taxes, insurance, and repairs 
by the Association shall be also endorsed hereon from 
time to time with the dates thereof. 

This agreement shall take effect from the 1st day 
of April, 1879, that being the commencement of the 
financial year of said Union Boat Club. 

In witness whereof, the said Union Boat Club Asso- 
ciation by its Treasurer duly authorized and the said 
Union Boat Club by J. O. Shaw, Jr., and Henry Park- 
man duly authorized as aforesaid hereunto set their 
hands in duplicate. 

(U. B. C. A. 1 Union Boat Club Association by Edw. L. Adams, 
Seal J Treas. 

Union Boat Cub by {^f/J^ £ |j 

The Constitution was duly amended to suit the 
new agreement. 

Five years later, that is, at the spring meeting, 
April 7, 1884, the President stated that the debt 
to the Association had been reduced from $18,000 
to $12,000. The Association was willing to arrange 



262 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

for the payment of this sum and the transfer of the 
title, which now was to be held, since the Boat Club 
was not incorporated, by three trustees for the 
benefit of the Club. And so a vote was passed that 
the Union Boat Club should pay the Association by 
mortgage $10,000 for the transfer of the ' Boat 
House Property ' from the Association to the 
Trustees of the Boat Club, who were to be Henry 
Parkman, E. D. Blake, and J. Montgomery Sears. 
There was also a vote of thanks to the Association 
for their generous offer of discounting from the 
price to be paid them for the property the sum 
of $2000. 

In the following May, at a special meeting, the 
deed transferring the property was read and ap- 
proved, and a vote was passed to amend the Consti- 
tution and the By-Laws to conform with the new 
arrangement. It will perhaps make clearer the re- 
lation of the Trustees to the Club to quote part of 
the explanation which Vice-President Milliken gave 
of it at the November meeting in 1897, in answer 
to a question from one who did not understand it. 

' In the shifting membership of the Club,' he said, 
' it was necessary that the legal title should be vested 
in somebody.' The Trustees, who were still Henry 
Parkman, E. D. Blake, and J. Montgomery Sears, 
held ' the property for the benefit of the members. 
They mortgaged the property, pledging their credit 
for part of the mortgage. . . . The mortgage had 
since been paid off, relieving them of personal lia- 



APPENDIX B 263 

bility. The Club paid the Trustees yearly one quar- 
ter of the annual dues and entrance fees, with which 
they paid taxes, insurance, and interest on the mort- 
gage, which they were gradually reducing. The 
balance they held to the credit of the Club.' 

This relation might have existed yet, had it not 
been for the refusal of the Charles River Basin Com- 
mission and the Metropolitan Park Commission to 
grant locations for boat-houses on the new Charles 
River Basin to any but incorporated clubs. Accord- 
ingly, at the annual meeting in November, 1907, the 
Club voted to incorporate itself, empowering the 
Executive Committee to transfer to the new cor- 
poration all personal property and cash of the Club, 
but not until the new corporation had adopted the 
constitution and by-laws of the voluntary associa- 
tion that had been the old Boat Club, and elected all 
its members members of the new corporation. About 
the same time, in the general making over of things, 
the relations of the Trustees to the Club came to be 
radically altered. 

With the incorporation of the Club, the Trustees 
ceased to be necessary. What money they had in the 
bank to the credit of the Club, they paid over to the 
Executive Committee to spend in building the new 
house. The old mortgage they had paid in full; 
and arrangements had been made in raising a new 
Club loan to have the Executive Committee make 
payments of both interest and principal. There was 
no longer any reason to pay the Trustees yearly a 



264 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

quarter of the annual assessments and entrance fees, 
' and such further sum as may be necessary to pro- 
tect the Trustees ... in the payment of the an- 
nual charges incurred by them,' for they now in- 
curred no annual charges. The article of the Con- 
stitution, therefore, which set forth the agreement 
between the Club and the Trustees became superflu- 
ous. It was struck out entirely at the special 
meeting for amending the Constitution on June 15, 
1909. The Club being now incorporated could per- 
fectly well have held the title to the land itself, but 
it was easier, in view of certain conditions in the 
deed of the old Association to the Trustees, in 1884, 
to have the title remain in the name of the Trustees. 
There are, therefore, still three Trustees of the 
Union Boat Club. They hold the title of its land, 
and that is virtually their only function. 



APPENDIX C 



MEMBERS OF THE CLUB 

TN some names in the following lists the word 
**■ ' Junior ' or ' Second ' has been dropped, but in 
every case the name is given as it was at the election 
of the member. 

FORMER OFFICERS OF THE UNION 
BOAT CLUB 

Former Presidents 

(From 1851 to 1866 the President acted as Treasurer.) 

John Q. Lund 1851 

Isaac M. Ireland 1852 

H. C. Ahlborn 1853 

George S. Bullens 1853-1855 

Daniel W. Rogers 1855-July, 1868 

Edwin M. Chamberlin July, 1868-1869 

Henry B. Rice 1870-1880 

Henry Parkman 1880-1891 

Samuel Hammond Jr 1891-1896 

Warren F. Kellogg 1896-1898 

Joseph Prince Loud 1898-1901 

J. Payson Clark 1901-1904 

Harry F. Adams 1904-1906 

Hugh Cabot 1906-1911 

Former Vice-Presidents 

Thomas F. Edmands Mar. 1871-June, 1873 

Edward N. Fenno June, 1873-1875 

Albert G. Baxter 1875-1888 

265 



266 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Edward B. Robins 1888-1889 

Edward N. Fenno 1889-1892 

Louis D. Brandeis 1892-1894 

Warren F. Kellogg 1894-1896 

Arthur N. Milliken 1896-1897 

Joseph Prince Loud 1897-1898 

J. Payson Clark 1898-1901 

Walter P. Henderson 1901 

Harry F. Adams 1901-1904 

Richard Hodgson 1904-1905 ■ 

Hugh Cabot 1906 

Hugh Bancroft 1906-1911 

Former Captains 
(From 1851 to 1859 the title of 'Coxswain' was used.) 

Daniel W. Rogers 1851 

John Kimball 1852 

William D. W. Allan 1853-Jan. 27, 1856 2 

Alfred Whitman Jr Feb. 5, 1856-1860 

Henry Whitman Jan. 1861-July, 1861 

H. H. Brackett July, 1861-Jan. 1862 

W. H. Carpenter Jan. 1862-July, 1862 

S. Holbrook Buckingham July, 1862-July, 1863 

Joseph P. Lovejoy July, 1863-1864 

E. Carleton Bates 1865-July, 1866 

George H. B. Hill July, 1866-1867 

Edwin M. Chamberlin Jan. 1868-July, 1868 

Albert G. Baxter Jr July, 1868-1871 

Robert S. Russell 1872-Sept. 1874 

Charles H. Williams Sept. 1874-June, 1875 

Edward C. Ellis June, 1875-April, 1876 

James E. R. Hill 1876-1877 

Charles H. Williams 1877-1880 

William S. Eaton Jr 1881-1884 

Charles H. Williams 1884-1885 

Julian J. Eustis 1885-1887 

A. Van C. Van Rensselaer 1887-April, 1889 

Curtis Guild Jr April, 1889-Nov. 1890 

George T. Keyes Nov. 1890- June, 1891 

1 Died December 20, 1905. 

2 Died January 27, 1856. 



APPENDIX C 267 

George R. Agassiz June, 1891-Nov. 1891 

Harry F. Adams 1891-1892 

William G. Borland 1892-1893 

Frederic Tudor Jr 1893-1894 

Charles E. Loud 1894-1896 

Daniel C. Holder Jr . 1896-1898 

Benjamin P. Ellis 1898-1899 

Walter P. Henderson 1899-1901 

Hugh Cabot 1901-1905 

John B. Hawes 2nd 1905-1911 

Former First Lieutenants 
(From 1857 to 1860 the title of 'Assistant Coxswain' was used.) 

Amos Webster Jr 1857-1860 

Samuel M. Lovejoy Jan. 1861-July, 1861 

Henry H. Brackett July, 1861-1862 

S. Holbrook Buckingham Jan. 1862-July, 1862 

John G. Morse July, 1862-1863 

E. Carleton Bates 1863-1864 

Judson Shute 1864-July, 1865 

Eben B. Foster Jr July, 1865-Jan. 1866 

George H. B. Hill Jan. 1866-July, 1866 

Frederick Barton , July, 1866-Jan. 1867 

Edward B. Robins Jan. 1867-July, 1867 

L. Stone King July, 1867-Jan. 1868 

Edward N. Fenno Jan. 1868-July, 1868 

Edward Henshaw July, 1868-1869 

Henry B.Rice 1869-1870 

Edward N. Fenno 1870- June, 1873 

Charles H. Williams June, 1873-Sept. 1874 

George H. Roberts Sept. 1874-1875 

Henry L. Morse 1875-April, 1876 

Brooks Adams April, 1876-Sept. 1876 

John O. Shaw Jr Sept. 1876-1877 and 1878-1879 

Henry Parkman 1877-1878 

Wm. S. Eaton Jr 1879-1880 

Frederick C. Shattuck 1880-1882 

J. H.Ransom Jr 1882-1884 

A. Van C. Van Rensselaer 1884-1886 

Charles P. Curtis Jr 1886-April, 1887 

Courtenay Guild Apr. 1887-Nov. 1887 

Guy Wilkinson 1887-1888 



268 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Warren F. Kellogg 1888-1889 

Frederic S. Coolidge 1889-1890 

Harry F. Adams 1890-1892 

Frederick Tudor Jr . 1892-1893 

Henry C. Cushing Jr 1893-1894 

Daniel C. Holder Jr 1894-1896 

Benjamin P. Ellis 1896-1898 

Walter P. Henderson 1898-1899 

Hugh Cabot 1899-1901 

Alpheus S. Hardy 1901-Dec. 1902 

Robert P. Blake 1903-1904 

Hugh Bancroft 1904-1905 

Arthur W. Rice 1905-1909 

George S. Derby 1909-1911 

Former Second Lieutenants 

John B. Hawes 2d 1904-1905 

George S. Derby 1905-1909 

Romney Spring 1909-1910 

Eliot Farley 1910-1911 

Former Third Lieutenants 
Romney Spring 1911 

Former Treasurers 
(Previous to 1866 the President acted as Treasurer.) 

Joseph P. Lovejoy 1866-1867 

George W. Estabrook 1867-1868 

Edwin B. Buckingham 1868-1869 

Edward D. Blake 1869-Sept. 1870 

Winslow Herrick Sept. 1870-1874 

William M. Rice 1874-1876 

Edward D. Blake 1876-1892 

Arthur N. Milliken 1892-1897 

Charles E. Loud 1897-1898 

Charles H. Fiske Jr 1898-1899 

Daniel C. Holder Jr 1899-1901 

John Dearborn 1901-1909 

Ralph May 1909-1911 



APPENDIX C 269 

Former Secretaries 

Henry H. Seaward Jr 1851 

W. L. Winchester 1852 

Daniel W. Rogers 1853 

Alfred Whitman Jr 1853-1855 

Henry P. Livermore 1855-1856 

George W. Smalley 1856-1857 

Charles E. Wyett 1857-1861 

Edwin M. Chamberlin 1861-1862 

Henry G. Richards 1863-1865 

George W. Estabrook 1866-1867 

Edwin B. Buckingham 1868 

Henry H. Fay 1869-Nov. 3, 1869 

C. P. Wilson Nov. 3, 1869-1870 

Edward B. Robins 1870-1879 

John O. Shaw Jr 1879-1882, 1883-1886 

Louis D. Brandeis 1882-1883 

William R. Richards 1886-1889 

Warren F. Kellogg 1889-1894 

William S. Townsend 1894-1899 

Benjamin P. Ellis 1899-1904 

Charles H. Alden Jr 1904-1907 

Robert P. Blake 1907-1909 

Arthur Drinkwater 1909-1911 



Former Directors 

Alfred Whitman Jr 1861-1865 

Richard Ritchey Jan. 1861-July, 1861 

William H. Carpenter . . . July, 1861-1862 

Judson Shute 1862-1864 

O. P. C. Billings 1862 

William H. Minot 1863-1865 

John G. Morse 1864 

James Dingley 1865 

Edwin B. Buckingham 1865-1867 

Robert H. Richards 1866 

Albert G. Baxter Jr 1866 and 1873-1875 

John D. Parker Jr 1866 

L. Stone King 1867 

Edwin M. Chamberlin 1867 

Daniel Sargent 1868 and 1871-1875 

James D. W. Lovett 1868 



270 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Henry B.Rice 1868 

Eben B. Foster Jr 1868 

Winslow Herrick 1869 

John Tyler Jr 1869-1871 

Edwin B. Buckingham 1870-1871 

J. Malcolm Forbes 1871-1872 

Henry H. McBumey 1871-1872 

Robert S. Russell 1872-1873, 1874-1875 

William Appleton Jr 1872-1873 

George F. Roberts 1874-1875 

Edward C. Ellis 1875-1878 

R.Heber Jones 1875-1878 

Edward N. Fenno 1875-1876 

James E. R. Hill 1876-1879 

Henry L. Morse 1876-1877 

Frank Seabury 1878-1879 

William S. Hall 1878-1879 

Arthur B. Ellis 1878-1879 

Francis Peabody Jr 1879-1880 

Henry Merwin 1879-1880 

George Lee 1879-1880 

Maurice H. Richardson 1880-1882 

William W. Vaughan 1880-1883 

George F. Roberts 1881-1883 

Arthur D. Wainwright 1882-1883 

Robert N. Cutler 1882-1884 

Louis D. Brandeis 1883-1885 

H.L.Harding 1883-1887 

James H. Young 1884-1885 

Robert C. Watson 1885-1887 

Charles H. Williams 1885-1887 

Warren F. Kellogg 1887-1888 

Frederick B. Holder 1887-1888 

Charles W. Townsend 1887-1888 

Arthur B. Ellis 1888-1889 

Courtenay Guild 1888-1889 

Thornton H. Simmons 1888-1889 

William R. Richards . 1889-1890 

Francis H. Williams 1889-1890 

Edmund P. Whitman 1889-1890 

Samuel Hammond Jr 1890-1891 

Frederick B. Holder 1890-1892 

Edward C. Ellis 1890-1891 

William G. Borland : 1891-1892 



APPENDIX C 271 

Edmund D. Codman 1891-1892 

William S. Townsend 1892-1894 

Thornton H. Simmons 1892-1894 

Harry F. Adams 1892-1893 

Joseph Prince Loud 1893-1897 

Frederick M. Briggs 1894-1896 

J. Payson Clark 1894-1898 

Alpheus S. Hardy 1896-1899 

Edward D. Marsh 1897-1898 

Daniel C. Holder Jr 1898-1899, 1901 

AllstonBurr 1898-1901 

Robert P. Blake 1899-1901, 1905-1906, 1909-1911 

Richard Hodgson 1900-1901 

Henry G. Vaughan 1901-1903 

Walter P. Henderson 1901-1904, 1906-1909 

Alexander Whiteside 1903-1904 

Francis L. Higginson Jr. 1904-1905 

George B. Magrath 1903-1911 

Arthur W.Rice 1904-1905 

Hugh Cabot 1905-1906 

Benjamin P. Ellis 1906-1908 

Arthur Drinkwater 1908-1909 

John Dearborn 1909-1910 

Romney Spring 1910-1911 

Earnest E. Smith 1911 



272 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



PAST MEMBERS 



A 

Abbot, Philip S April 9, 1894 

Abbott, Frank P July 12, 1875 

Abbott, Marshall K April 6, 1874 

Aborn, Peleg May 10, 1865 

Adams, Aquila June 4, 1862 

Adams, Brooks June 21, 1875 

Adams, Edward A April 30, 1886 

Adams, Edward L Sept. 4, 1861 

Adams, George H July 14, 1873 

Adams, Melvin O May 20, 1890 

Agassiz, George R Oct. 20, 1886 

Ahlborn, Henry C April 28, 1852 

Ahuja, E June 16, 1884 

Ajuria, Manuel de Oct. 15, 1883 

Alden, A. H Sept. 20, 1880 

Alden, Charles H. Jr Mar. 8, 1898 

Alden, Eliot May 13, 1899 

Aldrich, Talbot June 30, 1902 

Allan, William D. W June 23, 1853 

Allen, Frank R April 4, 1866 

Allen, Freeman May 20, 1890 

Allen, Seabury W June 14, 1887 

fAllen, William A May 6, 1859 

Allen, W. H. Jr Mar. 22, 1882 

Almy, Frederick Jr May 5, 1869 

Almy, John P April 4, 1866 

Almy, T. R Mar. 6, 1867 

Ames, Albert T. B May 5, 1873 

Ames, F. Lothrop Feb. 27, 1899 

Ames, John C Nov. 17, 1902 

Amory, Copley April 24, 1889 

Amory, Francis I June 1, 1874 

Amory, Robert Jr April 29, 1908 

Anthony, Andrew V. S July 1, 1868 

Arbecam, B. L April 9, 1883 

Arnold, Edward L July 3, 1871 

Austin, Herbert May 22, 1885 



APPENDIX C 273 

Austin, James W Dec. 21, 1897 

Austin, Walter June 4, 1894 

B 

Bacon, Charles July 12, 1865 

Bacon, Charles J April 24, 1889 

Badger, Oliver H. Jr Oct. 6, 1871 

Bailey, J. Whitman May 25, 1896 

Bailey, Richard W Mar. 6, 1871 

Balch, George H May 5, 1873 

Baldwin, George H Mar. 25, 1908 

Baldwin, L. Austin Feb. 13, 1861 

Ball, Henry B Mar. 7, 1888 

Bangs, Outram . May 15, 1885 

Barbour, James H April 4, 1866 

Barnes, Frank L June 3, 1868 

Barnes, Thurlow Weed Aug. 12, 1889 

Barney, J. J May 2, 1870 

Barrett, Charles E April 18, 1892 

Barroll, Thomas D , April 2, 1883 

Bartlett, Matthew . Mar. 30, 1910 

Barton, Frederick Dec. 13, 1865 

Battelle, Eugene May 8, 1866 

fBates, E. Carleton Dec. 4, 1861 

fBaxter, Albert G. Jr Mar. 4, 1857 

Baxter, Charles S Aug. 3, 1895 

Beard, Edward L July 12, 1875 

Beck, C. Bayard April 7, 1869 

Beebe, J. Arthur June 7, 1880 

Bemis, Henry H Dec. 20, 1892 

Bemis, John W Mar. 3, 1897 

Bennett, Jacob April 28, 1852 

Bidwell, Charles E April 6, 1874 

Bigelow, Albert S May 3, 1875 

Bigelow, S. Lawrence May 24, 1887 

Bigelow, William S Feb. 3, 1879 

Billings, Oliver P. C Feb. 13, 1861 

Bird, Edward V May 2, 1870 

Blaess, Alexander April 25, 1890 

Blake, Clarence J Sept. 5, 1879 

Blake, Francis Minot Mar. 22, 1897 

Blake, Gerald Mar. 17, 1908 

Blaney, William B June 5, 1855 



274 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Blodgett, William K Aug. 4, 1873 

Blunt, Michael Angelo May 26, 1851 

Boardman, Reginald Feb. 20, 1895 

Bowditch, Edward June 6, 1870 

Bowen, John T Aug. 12, 1889 

Boyden, Charles July 12, 1875 

Bradford, E. H April 5, 1880 

Bradford, George G May 1, 1895 

Bradlee, Arthur Tisdale Dec. 16, 1895 

Bradlee, J. Frederick Jr Feb. 27, 1899 

Bradley, Thomas D July 1, 1868 

Braman, John W June 21, 1875 

Bramhall, Thomas M May 6, 1857 

Bremer, S. Parker Dec. 14, 1900 

Brewer, Joseph April 1, 1868 

Brewer, Nathaniel Jr April 2, 1894 

Bridge, Harrison P Mar. 9, 1891 

Briggs, Lowell C Oct. 28, 1892 

Briggs, Walter M Nov. 16, 1896 

Brigham, Edward A April 3, 1867 

Brigham, N. M April 2, 1893 

Brooke, Stopford W May 14, 1887 

Brooks, James I May 6, 1872 

Brooks, J. Edward April 10, 1905 

Brooks, Morgan May 22, 1885 

Brooks, William A May 11, 1888 

Brown, Albert H Sept. 7, 1864 

Brown, Alfred B May 10, 1865 

Brown, Charles F May 26, 1851 

Brown, H. B 

Brown, Howard N Mar. 9, 1896 

Brownell, William F June 3, 1872 

Bryant, Henry April 3, 1876 

Bryant, John April 1, 1868 

Bryant, William S May 19, 1885 

Buckingham, Edwin B July 15, 1858 

fBuckingham, Silas Holbrook July 15, 1858 

fBulger, Richard J May 21, 1853 

fBullens, George S Aug. 16, 1853 

Bullock, Rufus A Sept. 5, 1879 

Burgess, T. P Mar. 31, 1888 

Burlen, Lorenzo W Nov. 6, 1871 

Burlen, William H Nov. 6, 1871 

Burnett, Marshall T Jan. 8, 1872 



APPENDIX C 



275 



Burnett, Robert E. 
Burnett, Robert T. 
Burr, Horace F. . 
Burrage, Walter L. 
Burrell, Herbert L. 
Butler, Sigourney . 



June 18, 1890 
Sept. 30, 1882 

July 1, 1868 
April 16, 1886 
April 23, 1903 

May 4, 1895 



C 

Cabot, Arthur T June 21, 1875 

Cabot, George E Oct. 14, 1891 

Cabot, Samuel June 30, 1902 

Callender, Henry B Aug. 10, 1889 

Canavan, M. J July 5, 1880 

Carpenter, E. D May 26, 1851 

Carruth, William W Nov. 4, 1872 

Carter, John W Nov. 3, 1869 

Chadwick, Francis B June 4, 1877 

Chadwick, George B Mar. 30, 1910 

tChamberlin, Edwin M Feb. 13, 1861 

Chandler, Francis W June 30, 1881 

Chandler, Parker C May 5, 1873 

Chapin, Edward F June 3, 1868 

Chapin, Erving F Feb. 26, 1894 

Chapin, Horace D Aug. 6, 1877 

Chase, Robert S April 10, 1891 

Chase, Stephen Aug. 12, 1889 

fChenery, William Paul Feb. 13, 1861 

Cheney, Charles P April 2, 1894 

Chick, Isaac W Mar. 1, 1875 

Chickering, Edward W Mar. 24, 1887 

Churchill, John M. B May 14, 1891 

Clark, Arthur H Feb. 2, 1874 

Clark, B. Preston April 1, 1887 

Clark, Ellery H Feb. 19, 1892 

Clark, Frederick S April 6, 1874 

Clarke, Addison L Sept. 5, 1870 

Clarke, Eliot C Dec. 31, 1891 

Cobb, Frederick C Jan. 20, 1890 

Cobb, Richard April 2, 1894 

Cochrane, F. B Aug. 2, 1882 

Cochrane, Hugh June 10, 1879 

Codman, James M. Jr April 22, 1895 

Codman, John S April 8, 1901 



276 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Codman, Robert Jr Mar. 21, 1887 

Codman, S. R. H April 8, 1901 

Codman, William April 29, 1884 

Codman, William C. Jr Mar. 3, 1879 

Coggeshall, Frederick April 30, 1895 

Colby, Francis T June 29, 1908 

Cole, Oliver H July 12, 1865 

Coolidge, Algernon Jr Mar. 1, 1888 

Coolidge, Charles A Dec. 30, 1881 

Coolidge, Francis L April 24, 1889 

Coolidge, Frederick S June 11, 1888 

Coolidge, J. Templeman 3d April 6, 1874 

Cooper, Charles A May 26, 1851 

Corey, Edwin H April 19, 1882 

Cotting, Charles E Aug. 11, 1886 

§Cotton, Frank B May 10, 1865 

fCotton, George H April 6, 1864 

Cotton, J. Whitcomb Dec. 1, 1869 

Cotton, William C June 6, 1870 

Couvis, Charles E July 5, 1880 

Craig, J. Hally Jan. 18, 1900 

Craigin, George A Dec. 20, 1892 

Crocker, Uriel H June 2, 1869 

Crockett, Eugene A Aug. 27, 1892 

Crowninshield, Benjamin W Mar. 2, 1870 

Cummings, J. Bradley April 6, 1892 

Cunningham, Caleb L Sept. 5, 1879 

Cunningham, F. B July 24, 1890 

Cunningham, T. B Feb. 13, 1861 

Curtis, Charles P. Jr April 14, 1890 

Curtis, James F May 25, 1900 

Curtis, Louis Aug. 7, 1871 

Cushing, George M Sept. 21, 1896 

Cushing, Harvey W April 3, 1893 

Cushing, Henry C. Jr April 28, 1892 

Cushing, Nicholas C April 3, 1893 

Cutler, Elisha P. Jr Jan. 4, 1875 

Cutler, John W Dec. 16, 1909 

D 

Daland, Tucker Dec. 7, 1874 

Dale, Eben May 6, 1872 

Dana, Richard H. Jr June 7, 1880 



APPENDIX C 277 

Davidson, William H April 4, 1866 

Davis, Charles T May 20, 1890 

Davis, Frank du P June 5, 1871 

Davis, Harrison M Mar. 8, 1900 

Davis, Horatio April 16, 1886 

Davis, Joseph P Mar. 2, 1874 

Dean, James April 5, 1906 

Deblois, John E April 3, 1867 

Deblois, N. James Dec. 4, 1871 

DeMauriac, Percy H Dec. 24, 1900 

Denison, John Hopkins Mar. 25, 1908 

Dennett, Hartley April 26, 1895 

Dennett, W. S. Jr Oct. 5, 1874 

DeNormandie, Philip Y Feb. 9, 1900 

Derby, Hasket June 6, 1870 

Derby, Richard H April 4, 1866 

Devlin, J. E. Jr Dec. 26, 1901 

Dexter, Arthur W April 3, 1893 

Dexter, Louis C Dec. 11, 1886 

fDingley, James April 1, 1857 

Dixwell, John Oct. 5, 1874 

Dodd, Edward W Aug. 4, 1873 

Dodd, John June 2, 1873 

Dodge, John H. P June 4, 1877 

Duff, John May 21, 1894 

Dumaine, Frederick C July 13, 1894 

Dumaresq, Francis June 11, 1884 

Dumaresq, Herbert May 5, 1869 

Dunlap, Charles M May 4, 1874 

Dupee, Theodore D Feb. 2, 1880 

E 

Eaton, Francis S Mar. 1, 1880 

Edes, Richard E Dec. 8, 1890 

Edes, Robert T April 16, 1883 

Edmands, J. Cushing June 3, 1868 

Edmands, Thomas F May 6, 1868 

Edmands, Thomas S June 3, 1868 

Eldridge, John S. Jr May 5, 1869 

Elliott, George B July 5, 1880 

Elliott, John W Nov. 2, 1874 

Elliott, William H April 3, 1876 

Ellis, Arthur B June 4, 1877 



278 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Ellis, Rufus Jr July 29, 1884 

Ells, A. Edward Feb. 1, 1906 

Elwood, Frank W Oct. 5, 1874 

Emery, F. F. Jr June 16, 1885 

Eustis, Julian J May 6, 1878 

Evans, Glendower May 21, 1884 

Everett, Arthur G Nov. 17, 1880 

Everett. Leo Jan. 22, 1894 

F 

Fairchild, Gordon Mar. 30, 1910 

Fay, Henry H May 6, 1868 

Fay, Joseph S. 3d Jan. 11, 1894 

Fenno, L. Carteret . June 12, 1876 

Fessenden, Russell G. April 9, 1901 

Field, Lowell T July 5, 1880 

Field, William DeY Mar. 4, 1868 

Filley, Oliver D April 10, 1907 

Fisk, Frederick D Feb. 10, 1890 

Fiske, Redington Nov. 3, 1909 

Fitz, Alfred W July 26, 1887 

Fitz, William S May 24, 1887 

Fitzgerald, Harold Dec. 26, 1901 

Flagg, Elisha 2d May 26, 1888 

Flagg, John P. Jr April 3, 1867 

Flagler, John H April 6, 1864 

Folsom, Charles F April 22, 1881 

Forbes, J. Malcolm Jr May 6, 1868 

Ford, Edwin June 28, 1885 

Forster, Horace W Nov. 2, 1874 

Foster, Alfred D April 6, 1874 

Foster, Charles H. W Mar. 21, 1883 

fFoster, Eben B. Jr June 8, 1863 

Fox, George B June 30, 1902 

Francis, Joseph G April 6, 1870 

Freeland, George B May 3, 1880 

Frothingham, C. Mifflin Mar. 30, 1910 

Frothingham, Louis A Dec. 13, 1897 

Frothingham, R April 7, 1869 

Fuller, Horace W Mar. 4, 1869 

Fuller, Robert July 14, 1887 

Fuller, T. Edward July 27, 1887 



APPENDIX C 279 



G 



Gardiner, Edward G May 14, 1885 

Gardiner, Frank 

Gardiner, J. Tudor April 15, 1897 

Gardiner, William H. Jr May 5, 1892 

Gaugengigl, I. M Mar. 22, 1888 

Gay, William Otis Feb. 8, 1895 

Gerry, Allston June 2, 1869 

Gibson, Charles DeW June 3, 1868 

Gilbert, Amos H Feb. 13, 1861 

Gilbert, A. M April 3, 1867 

Gill, Charles S Sept. 2, 1868 

Gillis, John P June 1, 1874 

Gleason, Alexander DeW June 2, 1888 

Goddard, Thatcher July 1, 1868 

Goddard, William W Nov. 3, 1869 

Going, Henry B July 1, 1868 

Goldthwait, J. E Nov. 7, 1891 

Goodnough, Xanthus H May 5, 1896 

Goodwin, Frank July 3, 1866 

Goodwin, Osias Jan. 2, 1871 

Gookin, Charles B Nov. 17, 1880 

Gossler, J. Henry Jr June 6, 1870 

Gould, Alfred H Dec. 17, 1903 

Gould, William H Jan. 2, 1861 

Gowing, Franklin P April 5, 1892 

Grant, Robert Nov. 3, 1873 

Gray, Howard April 14, 1883 

Gray, James Cunningham April 25, 1896 

Gray, T. Fales Mar. 6, 1871 

Gray, Thomas J Mar. 6, 1871 

Gray, William 3d May 22, 1883 

Greene, E. M Feb. 10, 1890 

Greenleaf, Edward H July 26, 1884 

Greenleaf, Louis Stone Feb. 8, 1895 

Greenough, Joseph F Mar. 4, 1868 

Greenough, Joseph S June 2, 1879 

Grinnell, Charles E Sept. 19, 1881 

Guild, Curtis Jr June 11, 1886 

Guild, Frederick Jr June 2, 1879 

Guiteras, Ramon May 29, 1882 



280 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



H 

Haines, George A Aug. 7, 1876 

Hale, Edward J June 6, 1870 

Hallowell, George H Aug. 19, 1901 

Hamilton, Fred C April 7, 1869 

Hamlin, George P July 25, 1895 

Hanlon, T. J Aug. 8, 1878 

Hapgood, Asa G May 2, 1887 

Harding, Emor H June 16, 1884 

Harding, Herbert L June 30, 1881 

Hardy, Alpheus H July 3, 1871 

Hardy, Edward E June 3, 1878 

Harlow, G. A July 30, 1897 

Harrington, Frank B Aug. 1, 1898 

Harris, William L May 31, 1887 

tHaskell, Walter P Sept. 1, 1885 

Hastings, E. T Mar. 5, 1877 

Hathaway, Horatio Jr April 5, 1900 

Haughton, Lawrence April 27, 1885 

Haven, George G April 4, 1887 

Haven, Henry C June 2, 1879 

Hay, Gustavus Jr Dec. 14, 1891 

tHayes, George H Oct. 25, 1853 

Haynes, George Aug. 7, 1876 

Heard, Edmund April 14, 1904 

Heard, John T. Jr April 2, 1894 

Heath, Reginald C Mar. 9, 1903 

Heath, Sydney April 5, 1865 

Heaton, Robert C April 1, 1878 

Henderson, Alexander April 5, 1900 

Henshaw, Edward May 1, 1867 

Herrick, Winslow April 4, 1866 

Higginson, George Jr May 11, 1855 

Higginson, Henry L May 1, 1855 

Higginson, Louis May 1, 1867 

Hill, Elbridge L June 4, 1877 

Hill, George H. B April 5, 1865 

Hill, James E. B. . . . Aug. 4, 1869 

Hills, Edwin A June 2, 1879 

Hinckley, Howard Mar. 30, 1882 

Hinckley, Robert C Mar. 4, 1878 

Hobart, Albert W Oct. 5, 1874 

Hodges, William D June 30, 1884 



APPENDIX C 281 

Hodgson, Richard May 30, 1887 

Holden, Artemas R. Jr May 6, 1872 

Holder, Daniel C. Jr Oct. 14, 1891 

Holder, Frederick B April 14, 1887 

Holt, William L June 10, 1903 

Holmes, Edward J June 5, 1871 

Homans, John 2d April 14, 1890 

Homer, Fred Feb. 2, 1880 

Homer, Joseph W June 1, 1874 

Homer, Robert April 7, 1869 

Hooper, Arthur W July 3, 1876 

Hooper, Charles R Mar. 30, 1882 

Hooper, William July 1, 1872 

Horton, William Langley Mar. 28, 1888 

Houghton, Isaac H April 1, 1872 

Howe, A. M Mar. 1, 1888 

Howe, George P June 10, 1903 

Howe, Henry M June 10, 1879 

Howe, J. Murray May 13, 1881 

Howe, J. S Sept. 24, 1887 

Howe, Lemuel R July 2, 1877 

Howe, Wallis E Nov. 7, 1890 

Hubbard, C. Eustis April 3, 1867 

Hubbard, Charles W Dec. 30, 1881 

Hubbard, John G Mar. 3, 1879 

Hubbell, J. Dana June 4, 1890 

Humbert, John R June 7, 1880 

Hunkins, George W April 1, 1857 

Hurlbut, H. Landon Aug. 19, 1872 

Hutchins, Edward W May 13, 1881 

Hyde, Louis F April 3, 1893 

I 

Iasigi, Joseph A Aug. 1, 1870 

Inches, Charles E Nov. 1, 1875 

Inches, George B June 2, 1879 

Ingalls, Eugene H April 3, 1871 

Ingraham, George H May 13, 1899 

Ireland, Isaac M May 26, 1851 

Ives, George A May 4, 1887 



282 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



J 

Jack, Edwin E Aug. 12, 1889 

Jack, Frederick L June 1, 1886 

JacksoD, Charles April 8, 1901 

Jackson, Charles C Sept. 20, 1880 

Jackson, James Sept. 1, 1885 

Jackson, James M Dec. 20, 1899 

Jacobs, Frederick B Mar. 2, 1894 

Jacobs, H. B Aug. 10, 1888 

James, George A Jan. 4, 1875 

Jelliffe, W. Raymond April 5, 1906 

Jewett, E. M May 6, 1878 

Johnson, Frank April 3, 1893 

Johnson, Nicolay T June 5, 1867 

Johnson, Reginald H April 23, 1903 

Johnson, Winchester June 6, 1870 

Jones, Charles C May 5, 1869 

Jones, Francis R July 16, 1898 

Jones, Frederick P May 4, 1874 

Jones, Henry B July 1, 1868 

Jones, Henry C : Mar. 1, 1888 

Jones, John C Mar. 11, 1882 

Jones, Joseph C April 7, 1869 

Jones, William E Aug. 24, 1885 



K 

Keith, Walter L May 5, 1873 

Kendall, Charles E May 10, 1865 

Kennedy, William H Oct. 18, 1872 

Keyes, George T , Nov. 10, 1890 

Keyes, Henry W. . Mar. 26, 1888 

Kidner, F. Clinton June 10, 1903 

Kilburn, Henry W July 26, 1886 

Kilvert, William H Feb. 13, 1861 

Kimball, Benjamin Nov. 11, 1889 

Kimball, George G May 15, 1876 

tKimball, John July 9, 1851 

King, Roland Oct. 6, 1873 

Kingsley, Eugene E April 5, 1887 

Knowles, C. F Aug. 6, 1877 

Knudsen, Eric A Nov. 9, 1899 



APPENDIX C 283 



Lamb, Horace A June 12 

Lambert, Edward W Mar. 6 

Lambert, Henry F Feb. 7 

Lambert, William B April 1 

Lamson, Charles D Aug. 8 

Lane, Daniel W Aug. 1 

Langley, John E May 8 

Lassiter, F. R May 4 

Lathrop, John Aug. 7 

Lawrence, James May 3 

Lawrence, John S June 30 

Lawrence, Prescott Sept. 5 

Lawrence, Richard April 23 

Lee, Frank W June 2, 

Lee, Henry Jr Sept. 5 

Lee, Thomas April 22 

Lee, William W July 3 



Leganger, Nicolay T 1871 or 1872 

Leonard, Henry B June 6, 1870 

Leonard, John April 4, 1866 

Lewis, George Jr June 18, 1883 

Lewis, Weston Jr April 4, 1883 

Lincoln, Frederick W. Jr Mar. 1, 1875 

Lindsay, Thomas P April 23, 1907 

Linzee, John T May 11, 1883 

Little, Arthur D April 24, 1889 

Little, Francis H Dec. 16, 1890 

Little, Philip April 7, 1879 

fLivermore, Charles E May 11, 1855 

Lockwood, Rhodes Jr April 16, 1902 

Lodge, Richard W April 24, 1895 

Lombard, F. Howard June 27, 1885 

Lombard, Howard June 12, 1876 

Longfellow, Charles A Nov. 4, 1878 

Lord, Frederick W Feb. 9, 1900 

Lord, S. A Dec. 26, 1901 

Loring, Alden P May 2, 1870 

Loring, Robert G Feb. 6, 1894 

Loring, Victor J. . . July 19, 1886 

Loring, William C Sept. 5, 1879 

Lovejoy, Joseph P Mar. 1, 1861 

fLovejoy, Samuel M Feb. 13, 1861 



1876 
1867 
1866 
1868 
1878 
1870 
1882 
1887 
1876 
1875 
1902 
1879 
1903 
1873 
1870 
1881 
1871 



284 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Lovett, James D. W Aug. 1867 

Lovett, Robert W Aug. 7, 1886 

Lowd, Benjamin Frank May 26, 1851 

Lowell, John A Aug. 1867 

Lund, John Q May 26, 1851 



M 

Mackay, William Dec. 20, 

Macomber, Frank G July 3, 

Macy, George N June 5, 

Mallon, C. Harrison Nov. 2, 

Manahan, Thomas April 16 

Mandell, George S Jan. 17, 

Mann, Alexander April 17 : 

Manson, Charles F April 6 

Manson, Thomas L. Jr April 7 

Marsh, Edward D - April 

Marston, William S. O Dec. 22 

Martin, Austin A June 10 

Marvel, Charles K April 25 

Masforroll, Manuel April 6 

Mason, A. L June 10 

Matthews, Nathan Jr May 13 

McBurney, Henry H Jan. 5 

McClennen, Edward F June 22 

McCobb, Henry May 15 

McConnell, Herbert B May 12 

McDaniel, John W May 10 

McKay, Theodore April 1 

McKim, Charles F June 20 ; 

McLean, Henry April 28 

McVickar, Edward June 21 

Mehaffey, William A April 4 

Meredith, J. Morris Aug. 6 

Merriam, Arthur W June 2 

Merwin, Henry C May 6 

Meyer, George L May 13 

Mifflin, George H April 24 

Miles, Ralph C July 25 

Millet, Joseph B May 22. 

Mills, Lloyd H Sept. 26 ; 

Minns, George F # June 30 

Minot, Joseph B * May 3. 



1892 
1866 
1871 
1874 
1902 
1895 
1906 
1859 
1869 
1892 
1860 
1879 
1900 
1874 
1879 
1882 
1870 
1899 
1876 
1884 
1865 
1872 
1887 
1852 
1897 
1873 
1877 
1869 
1878 
1881 
1889 
1895 
1885 
1899 
1902 
1875 



APPENDIX C 285 

fMinot, William H Jan. 1, 1862 

Mitchell, 0. R Aug. 12, 1889 

Mixer, John Jr July 29, 1853 

Morison, Horace April 23, 1907 

Morrison, Samuel L. Oct. 6, 1873 

Morse, Cabot J June 18, 1890 

Morse, Charles J Mar. 1, 1875 

Morse, Henry L Nov. 2, 1874 

Morse, John G Feb. 13, 1861 

Morse, John L April 2, 1894 

Morse, John T. Jr Mar. 1, 1875 

Morss, John Wells May 11, 1901 

Moseley, Edward A April 9, 1884 

Mosely, W. O. Jr July 2, 1877 

Motley, E. P. Jr April 27, 1882 

Mudge, H. Sanford July 1, 1872 

Miiller, Leslie Aug. 29, 1882 

Miiller, William Jr June 2, 1869 

Munro, John C July 15, 1887 

Munroe, Andrew T. H Nov. 7, 1866 

Murphy, Fred F July 10, 1882 

N 

Nairn, Charles S April 13, 1891 

Nevin, Ethelbert April 14, 1890 

Newell, Charles A April 6, 1874 

Newell, Franklin S Aug. 22, 1899 

Newell, James M April 8, 1901 

Neyhart, Adnah Aug. 22, 1899 

Nichols, Lyman Jr Aug. 7, 1871 

Nourse, Frederick R Jan. 5, 1870 

Nourse, Thorndike Sept. 5, 1870 

Noyes, Edward P July 12, 1890 

Nye, Norman McC Jan. 18, 1899 

O 

O'Brien, William H July 1, 1868 

Oliver, Charles E April 24, 1893 

O'Neil, Richard F Aug. 19, 1901 

O'Reilly, John Boyle April 22, 1881 

Osgood, James R July 1, 1868 

Osgood, William P June 27, 1887 



286 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Otis, Edward O Mar. 11, 1891 

Otis, Herbert F April 5, 1892 

Otis, W. J Mar. 11, 1891 

P 

Page, George H July 15, 1890 

Page, James R May 5, 1869 

Page, Walter May 6, 1868 

Painter, Charles F May 5, 1900 

Palmer, Henry W April 23, 1907 

Parker, Frederic Nov. 10, 1890 

Pa ker, J. Brooks May 6, 1878 

Parker, J. Harleston Nov. 9, 1899 

UParker, John D. Sr July 31, 1867 

tParker, John D. Jr Dec. 7, 1859 

Parker, William L Aug. 4, 1873 

Parker, Fred T Oct. 7, 1878 

Parks, Leighton Jan. 18, 1900 

Parks, William H. A July 1, 1868 

Partridge, Eugene E. . . . • Nov. 6, 1871 

Pavenstedt, Edmund Jan. 13, 1892 

Payson, Clifford C April 16, 1902 

Peabody, Endicott April 2, 1883 

Peabody, Francis W April 10, 1905 

Peabody, Francis Jr April 1, 1878 

Peabody, Harold Dec. 11, 1905 

Peabody, W. Rodman Nov. 9, 1899 

Pease, Edward A April 2, 1894 

Pecker, Edward E June 16, 1884 

Penhallow, Charles S April 2, 1877 

Perkins, Charles B Jan. 18, 1899 

Perkins, Robert S May 1, 1867 

Perrin, Arthur Jan. 17, 1895 

Phippen, Hardy June 18, 1890 

Pierce, Edward F May 6, 1872 

Pierce, George W May 5, 1873 

Pingree, Frederick J June 6, 1870 

Piatt, Floyd May 3, 1892 

Pollard, D. Fred April 7, 1869 

Porter, Alexander S May 1, 1871 

Porter, Alexander S. Jr May 20, 1890 

Porter, Benjamin C Nov. 3, 1873 

Porter, Charles B Mar. 5, 1877 



APPENDIX C 287 

Porter, James Mar. 24, 1887 

Pratt, Bela L Aug. 9, 1894 

Pray, Charles H May 15, 1876 

Preble, William April 15, 1883 

Preston, George W ' April 7, 1869 

Preston, Horatio W Sept. 1, 1869 

Preston, J. Ashton Aug. 5, 1868 

Preston, Richard April 16, 1886 

Preston, Samuel S June 6, 1870 

Preston, Willard April 7, 1869 

Priest, Frank P July 3, 1871 

Priest, Henry L July 3, 1871 

Prince, Charles A Mar. 5, 1877 

Prince, Gordon May 5, 1869 

Prince, Morton May 19, 1882 

Proctor, Frank I July 16, 1889 

R 

Rand, Francis T July 3, 1871 

Ransom, Jonathan H. Jr June 2, 1879 

Redfield, Luther C April 6, 1874 

Reed, John P April 7, 1869 

Reggio, Andre C May 3, 1875 

Repplier, J. Lancaster May 5, 1869 

Revere, Joseph W May 8, 1868 

Reynolds, Edward Mar. 22, 1887 

Rhodes, Charles D June 3, 1868 

Rice, George S May 6, 1872 

Rice, Henry B April 5, 1865 

Rice, Henry N April 15, 1897 

Rice, L. Frederick April 6, 1874 

Rice, William M Sept. 1, 1869 

tRichards, Frank C May 26, 1851 

tRichards, Frank G May 20, 1856 

Richards, Henry June 6, 1870 

Richards, H. C May 18, 1888 

tRichards, Henry C April 6, 1859 

Richards, Robert H May 10, 1865 

Richardson, Charles F June 16, 1890 

Richardson, Edward Dec. 5, 1870 

Richardson, Gedney K June 5, 1867 

Richardson, Spencer W May 6, 1857 

Richardson, Thomas O June 16, 1883 



288 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Ricketson, Walter Oct. 31, 1887 

Ringot, Joseph H May 5, 1869 

Ritchey, Richard Feb. 13, 1861 

Roberts, George F Aug. 7, 1871 

Roberts, W. Dewees . . . . ' April 24, 1889 

fRobertson, Frank G 

{Robertson, Gilbert A June 20, 1854 

Robeson, William R. Jr July 1, 1872 

Robins, Richard Mar. 2, 1870 

Robins, Richard Jr May 14, 1887 

fRogers, Daniel W May 26, 1851 

Rogers, Francis S Mar. 3, 1894 

Rollins, Frank W Jan. 18, 1900 

Ropes, William H. Jr April 7, 1873 

Rousmaniere, John E April 10, 1905 

Russell, Robert S June 3, 1868 

S 

Sampson, Charles E June 3, 1878 

Sanger, John W Feb. 2, 1880 

fSargent, Daniel April 3, 1867 

Sargent, Francis W Nov. 7, 1870 

Sargent, Frank W April 20, 1866 

Schroeder, Johan May 13, 1881 

Scudder, Gardiner H April 2, 1894 

Sears, Francis B May 4, 1874 

Sears, George G Mar. 28, 1887 

Sears, J. Montgomery June 6, 1883 

Seaward, Henry H. Jr May 26, 1851 

Sedgwick, William T May 3, 1888 

Severance, Pierre C July 12, 1875 

Sharp, John C. Jr May 18, 1888 

Shattuck, George B July 3, 1876 

Shaw, CO Sept. 4, 1884 

Shaw, J. Oakes Jr Mar. 2, 1874 

Shaw, Robert G Mar. 1, 1875 

Shaw, Walter D Sept. 4, 1884 

Sheaf, Edwin April 13, 1882 

Shepard, L. D April 5, 1906 

Shepard, T. O April 11, 1892 

Shurtleff, Arthur A Dec. 14, 1900 

Shurtleff, Harold Robert Dec. 30, 1909 

Shute, Judson Mar. 17, 1860 



APPENDIX C 289 

Sibley, Henry C June 3, 1868 

Sigoumey, Henry L Oct. 7, 1878 

Simes, Robert F May 12, 1891 

Simes, William May 3, 1880 

Simmons, George W Feb. 10, 1890 

Simpson, Frank E April 5, 1880 

Simpson, George F Nov. 6, 1871 

Sise, Frederick M Aug. 12, 1889 

Skinner, Frank H May 2, 1870 

Skinner, Frederic June 6, 1870 

fSmalley, George W May 20, 1856 

Smith, Henry A May 5, 1869 

Snell, George Dec. 7, 1874 

Snow, Edwin F April 1, 1856 

Southgate, Richard S Feb. 13, 1861 

Soutter, Robert April 14, 1890 

Spelman, Henry M Aug. 30, 1897 

Spooner, Henry G Aug. 2, 1886 

Spooner, Henry T Dec. 8, 1885 

Spooner, Joseph C April 3, 1876 

Stackpole, Frederick D Sept. 19, 1881 

Stanwood, Frederick April 9, 1901 

Stephenson, Harris M July 1, 1868 

Stevens, Henry A April 3, 1876 

Stevens, Joseph C April 3, 1876 

Stevenson, Robert H May 2, 1870 

Stevenson, Thomas G Dec. 26, 1901 

Stimpson, Geo. F Nov. 6, 1871 

Stockton, Howard Nov. 1, 1875 

Stowell, E. Channing April 30, 1895 

Stuart, C. U April 24, 1889 

Sturgis, Charles R July 1, 1896 

Sturgis, Edward May 13, 1899 

Sturgis, Francis S Nov. 7, 1870 

Sturgis, Roger F Mar. 23, 1882 

Sturgis, Russell 3d Feb. 3, 1879 

Sumner, George S June 6, 1870 

Swan, William D Mar. 1, 1888 

Swan, William W Oct. 6, 1871 

Sweet, Walter H April 4, 1866 

Sweetser, Frank E June 2, 1873 

Swift, Henry W April 5, 1875 

Swift, John B June 25, 1883 

Swift, William H Feb. 1, 1875 



290 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



T 

Taylor, Isaac H Mar. 6, 1871 

Thacher, Thomas C Mar. 1, 1892 

Thayer, Albert P Mar. 12, 1883 

Thayer, John E June 30, 1881 

Thayer, Nathaniel N July 5, 1880 

Thayer, Samuel C May 24, 1887 

Thomas, William Jan. 5, 1874 

Thompson, Wilfred H Feb. 5, 1868 

Thomson, Edward W Feb. 22, 1892 

Thorndike, Augustus May 3, 1888 

Thorndike, Paul July 12, 1890 

Thurston, Charles S April 16, 1902 

Tilden, C. Linzee April 7, 1869 

Tilden, George H July 1, 1872 

Tileston, Wilder . Mar. 8, 1898 

Tilton, Barclay Jan. 11, 1894 

Torroja, Joaquin M Sept. 19, 1881 

Townsend, Henry E April 6, 1874 

Trask, W. R April 13, 1891 

Trowbridge, Alexander B April 6, 1892 

Tuck, Henry Aug. 19, 1872 

Tucker, Alanson June 3, 1868 

Tudor, Henry Jan. 5, 1874 

Twombly, Hamilton McK May 3, 1875 

Tyler, John Jr Aug. 1867 

Tyler, John F April 2, 1894 

U 

Upham, George B Aug. 20, 1901 

V 

Van Horn, Richard B. April 13, 1895 

Van Praag, Samuel June 5, 1867 

Van Straaten, Jacques April 11, 1887 

Vose, Josiah H April 16, 1886 

W 

Wade, Horace S Sept. 7, 1874 

Wade, J. R April 10, 1887 



APPENDIX C 291 



Wadleigh, Herbert A April 14 

Wadsworth, Alexander F Mar. 6 

Wadsworth, Eliot April 14 

Wadsworth, Herbert Mar. 1 

Wadsworth, Richard G Dec. 6 

Wainwright, Amory D Mar. 1 

Wainwright, Henry Dec. 4 

Wait, Edward R April 18 

Walcott, Charles June 30 

Walcott, Robert April 23 

Walker, Arthur L April 6 

Walker, Charles H May 2 

Walker, Frank H Nov. 7 

Walker, Harry H Mar. 15 

Walker, James R June 2 

Walker, James W. G July 1 

Walker, Stoughton April 19 

Walker, W. P 

Walley, J. C. Bates June 7 

Walley, W. Phillips May 1 

Walter, Howard Feb. 10 

Ward, Clarence S Dec. 7 

Ware, Richard D Jan. 18 

Ware, Robert D April 29 

Waraock, Adam Aug. 24 

Warren, Hobart E July 21 

Warren, John June 27 : 

Warren, Samuel D. Jr Sept. 22 ; 

Waters, Robert H. Jr May 5 

Watson, Joseph May 26, 

Watson, Robert C. . May 4. 

Watson, Theodore S Dec. 17 

Weatherbee, Karl Mar. 26 : 

Webster, Amos Jr April 1 

Welch, Francis July 3 

Weld, Charles G April 29 

Weld, C.J f. April 16 

Weld, George W May 5 

Weld, William F. Jr June 3 

Wellington, Fred A April 5 

Wells, Charles B May 4 

Wells, James H May 13 

Wendell, M. R April 14 

Wentworth, Charles F April 10 



1904 
1871 
1904 
1875 
1904 
1880 
1871 
1892 
1902 
1903 
1870 
1870 
1866 
1910 
1869 
1887 
1882 

1880 
1867 
1890 
1874 
1901 
1895 
1885 
1896 
1890 
1878 
1873 
1851 
1885 
1903 
1896 
1856 
1876 
1886 
1886 
1869 
1872 
1865 
1887 
1881 
1904 
1891 



292 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Wentworth, Mark H April 16, 1902 

fWest, Frederick M Feb. 13, 1861 

West, M. S Aug. 10, 1888 

Wharton, Edward R May 15, 1876 

Wheeler, Alfred A May 28, 1896 

Wheelock, James A Sept. 5, 1854 

Wheelwright, John T May 13, 1881 

Wheelwright, John W April 1, 1872 

Wheelwright, Henry M Jan. 18, 1898 

Wheelwright, William B April 16, 1902 

Whidden, Renton < May 4, 1891 

White, Donald E Feb. 10, 1890 

White, Franklin W Nov. 27, 1894 

White, H. K June 18, 1887 

White, James C Sept. 5, 1870 

White, John E May 5, 1869 

Whiteside, George S April 2, 1894 

Whiting, Warren B July 3, 1876 

tWhitman, Alfred Jr July 29, 1853 

Whitman, Edmund P Aug. 10, 1888 

tWhitman, Edmund S June 3, 1856 

tWhitman, Henry July 15, 1858 

Whitmore, C. J April 5, 1880 

Whitney, James P Nov. 3, 1869 

Whitney, John F April 2, 1894 

Whitney, William F June 2, 1879 

Whitney, William S June 6, 1870 

Whittemore, James K Mar. 30, 1910 

Wigglesworth, Edward May 3, 1880 

Wilbur, Horace B June 3, 1868 

Wilde, E. Cabot July 3, 1876 

Wilde, George C Sept. 4, 1876 

Wilder, Edward July 12, 1865 

Wilder, Silas W April 6, 1870 

Wilkinson, Edward T Dec. 1, 1869 

Wilkinson, Guy June 24, 1886 

tWillard, John A Aug. 5, 1853 

Willard, Robert Aug. 19, 1872 

Willey, Walter T Feb. 21, 1871 

Williams, Arthur S May 2, 1887 

Williams, Charles J Mar. 2, 1870 

Williams, Edward R Jan. 18, 1893 

Williams, Eldred C Sept. 12, 1883 

Williams, Franklin D April 17, 1893 



APPENDIX C 293 

Williams, Henry M Aug. 10, 1888 

Williams, John D Oct. 18, 1872 

Williams, Moses Jr April 3, 1893 

Williams, Reuel Mar. 2, 1870 

Williams, Robert W Oct. 14, 1889 

Williams, Sidney April 19, 1882 

Williams, Sydney M July 18, 1896 

Williams, Sydney W June 18, 1887 

Wilson, Cecil P May 6, 1868 

Wilson, Francis A April 14, 1890 

Wilson, William Power Jan. 2, 1871 

Winchester, Daniel L May 26, 1851 

Windeler, G. Herbert May 6, 1895 

Wood, Charles G. Jr April 5, 1875 

Wood, Orrin Grant May 10, 1910 

Wyett, Charles E June 6, 1854 

Wyman, Henry A April 11, 1888 

Y 

Young, B. Loring April 4, 1866 

Young, Francis G April 2, 1877 

Young, Frank H April 6, 1874 

Z 

Zalinski, Edmund L Nov. 3, 1873 

t Later elected to honorary membership. 
II Original election honorary. 



294 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



PRESENT MEMBERS 

OFFICERS 

President 
Hugh Cabot 

Vice-President 
Hugh Bancroft 

Captain 
John B. Hawes 2d. 

First Lieutenant 
George S. Derby 

Second Lieutenant 
Eliot Farley 

Third Lieutenant 
Romney Spring 

Treasurer 
Ralph May 

Secretary 
Arthur Drinkwater 

Directors 

George B. Magrath 
Robert P. Blake 
Earnest E. Smith 



APPENDIX C 295 



ACTIVE MEMBERS 

The form in which the names of members appear is as of the 
time of election. In some instances suffixes, as "Jr." or "2d," were 
later dropped. 

The figures at the left of the names indicate the places where 
the members stand on the membership list. 

In the cases of members who were elected, resigned and were re- 
elected, the date of the first election is the one given. 



A 

136 Abbott, Walter Aug. 12, 1889 

76 Adams, Harry F July 16, 1889 

367 Adams, Henry 2d . . '. April 14, 1904 

288 Adams, Ivers Shepard Nov. 3, 1909 

276 Adams, Zabdiel B Oct. 5, 1909 

56 Allen, Gardner W May 6, 1886 

270 Allen, Herbert S July 27, 1909 

88 Amory, William 2d Mar. 1, 1892 

4 Appleton, William Jr June 3, 1868 

104 Ayer, Charles F Feb. 14, 1895 

357 Ayer, Frederick Jr Mar. 30, 1910 

175 Ayer, James B. Jr April 14, 1904 

176 Ayer, Nathaniel F April 14, 1904 

B 

373 Bacon, Frederick C Feb. 21, 1911 

46 Bacon, Robert Nov. 1, 1882 

336 Bacon, Robert Low Feb. 10, 1910 

254 Baldwin, Thomas Tileston July 14, 1909 

386 Baldwin, Thomas Tileston Jr May 2, 1911 

167 Bancroft, Guy Mar. 9, 1903 

337 Barnes, Allan F Feb. 10, 1910 

159 Barney, J. Dellinger April 16, 1902 

211 Bazeley, William A. L June 26, 1897 

358 Beale, Arthur M Mar. 30, 1910 

146 Beals, Edward M May 5, 1900 

338 Beals, George Charles Feb. 10, 1910 

242 Bellows, Robert P April 16, 1909 



296 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

169 Bentinck-Smith, W. F April 23 

20 Bigelow, Joseph S April 5 

396 Billings, Edmund April 5 

200 Binney, Horace Feb. 1 

339 Blake, Arthur Feb. 10. 

106 Blake, Dehon April 11 

12 Blake, Edward D April 3 

172 Blake, Robert Fulton June 10. 

64 Blake, Robert P May 16 

21 Blake, William P Oct. 4 

289 Blaney, Dwight Nov. 3 

116 Bond, Stephen N July 11 

255 Bottomly, John T July 14 

256 Bourne, Frank A. July 14 

290 Bouve, George Winthrop Nov. 3 

225 Bowditch, Henry I Mar. 17 

291 Bowen, Stephen Nov. 3 

143 Braman, Dwight April 5 

40 Braman, Granville D May 13 

349 Bramhall, William C Mar. 15 

36 Brandeis, Louis D May 3 

61 Briggs, Frederick M May 2 

201 Brooks, Lawrence G April 4 

243 Brown, Lloyd T April 16 

306 Bryant, Arthur P Dec. 16 

374 Bryant, John Oct. 16 

30 Bullock, Rufus A Sept. 5 

377 Burdett, Paul April 21 

257 Burlingham, Louis Herbert July 14 

119 Burr, Allston Oct. 19 

218 Burrill, Charles L April 23 

107 Burroughs, George April 20 

177 Burton, Roger O April 14 

51 Bush, J. Foster Mar. 20 

138 Butler, Charles S May 13 

202 Butler, William M April 1 



1903 
1875 
1892 
1906 
1910 
1895 
1867 
1903 
1887 
1875 
1909 
1896 
1909 
1909 
1909 
1908 
1909 
1880 
1881 
1910 
1880 
1887 
1906 
1909 
1909 
1907 
1879 
1911 
1909 
1896 
1907 
1895 
1904 
1885 
1899 
1906 



109 Cabot, Frederick P May 3, 1895 

162 Cabot, Philip June 30, 1902 

387 Cabot, William B May 2, 1911 

292 Carleton, Philip G Nov. 3, 1909 

166 Chase, William Chester Nov. 17, 1902 



APPENDIX C 297 

197 Cheever, David Dec. 11, 1905 

258 Christian, Henry A July 14, 1909 

307 Chute, Arthur L Dec. 16, 1909 

129 Clark, Frank M Jan. 11, 1898 

157 Clark, George Oliver May 24, 1901 

89 Clark, Herbert April 3, 1893 

259 Clark, J. Dudley July 14, 1909 

73 Clark, J. Payson April 24, 1889 

370 Clarke, James Freeman Nov. 25, 1910 

9 Clarke, William B June 6, 1870 

124 Cobb, Farrar . . June 11, 1897 

118 Cobb, William . Sept. 23, 1896 

130 Cochrane, A. Lynde Jan. 18, 1898 

77 Codman, Edmund D July 16, 1889 

102 Codman, Ernest Amory July 12, 1894 

152 Codman, Stephen R. H April 9, 1901 

38 Coffin, Rufus Nov. 17, 1880 

189 Cole, Louis deP April 10, 1905 

123 Coolidge, Harold Jefferson Mar. 20, 1897 

125 Cotton, Frederic J July 7, 1897 

203 Coues, Robert W April 4, 1906 

140 Coues, William Pearce Nov. 9, 1899 

6 Crocker, George G June 2, 1869 

295 Crosbie, Arthur Hallam Nov. 3, 1909 

260 Crosby, Raymond M July 14, 1909 

219 Cross, Charles R. Jr April 23, 1907 

95 Cummings, Charles K April 2, 1894 

340 Cunningham, John Earl Feb. 10, 1910 

29 Cutler, Elbridge G June 2, 1879 

308 Cutler, Eliot C Dec. 16, 1909 

32 Cutler, Robert N April 5, 1880 

D 

93 Dabney, Frederick L Feb. 26, 1894 

68 Dakin, Arthur H Mar. 22, 1888 

240 Davenport, Charles M Aug. 4, 1908 

105 Davis, Arthur E July 9, 1886 

126 Davis, Lincoln July 28, 1897 

101 Dearborn, John Jan. 11, 1894 

58 Deland, Lorin F Mar. 24, 1887 

350 Denny, George P Mar. 15, 1910 

230 DeNormandie, Robert L Mar. 25, 1908 

186 Derby, George S Feb. 8, 1905 



298 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

359 Dexter, G. Stillman Mar. 30, 1910 

78 Dorr, George B Aug. 12, 1889 

55 Downes, Frederick O April 26, 1886 

190 Drinkwater, Arthur April 10, 1905 

E 

271 Eastman, Theodore J July 27, 1909 

277 Edmunds, Horton Oct. 5, 1909 

87 Ellis, Benjamin P June 24, 1891 

14 Ellis, Edward C June 2, 1873 

153 Ellis, John H April 9, 1901 

310 Emerson, G. Dana Dec. 16, 1909 

293 Emmons, Arthur Brewster 2d Nov. 3, 1909 

244 Endicott, Thorndike H April 16, 1909 

245 Ernst, Roger April 16, 1909 

341 Eshleman, Frank M Feb. 10, 1910 

1 Estabrook, George W April 5, 1865 

F 

212 Fabyan, Marshall April 10, 1907 

278 Farley, Eliot . Oct. 5, 1909 

184 Farley, John Wells Dec. 6, 1904 

309 Fenger, Fred A Dec. 16, 1909 

42 Fenno, J. Brooks Jr Dec. 20, 1881 

388 Field, Whitcomb May 2, 1911 

342 Fish, Erland Frederick Feb. 10, 1910 

121 Fisher, Richard Arnold Mar. 4, 1897 

120 Fiske, Charles H. Jr Dec. 28, 1896 

360 Fitz, Reginald Mar. 30, 1910 

279 Forbes, Henry S Oct. 5, 1909 

351 Foster, Frederick Mar. 15, 1910 

261 Fox, Thomas A July 14, 1909 

241 French, Hollis Aug. 4, 1908 

352 Frost, Walter A Mar. 15, 1910 

280 Frothingham, Francis E Oct. 5, 1909 

G 

178 Galacar, Frederic R April 14, 1904 

231 Gallaudet, Herbert Draper Mar. 25, 1908 

99 Gardiner, J. Pennington June 4, 1894 

311 Gardiner, Robert H Dec. 16, 1909 



APPENDIX C 299 

246 Gardiner, R. H. Jr April 16, 1909 

127 Garfield, Irvin McDowell Sept. 7, 1897 

147 Gay, Warren F May 5, 1900 

191 George, E. Howard April 10, 1905 

369 Gere, Ward N June 15, 1910 

389 Gibbs, Frank E. Jr May 2, 1911 

368 Gill, Austin Goddard May 10, 1910 

281 Goodale, Francis G Oct. 5, 1909 

192 Gordon, Donald April 10, 1905 

112 Graves, William H Mar. 26, 1896 

160 Gray, Edward Jr April 16, 1902 

262 Gray, Ralph Weld July 14, 1909 

115 Greeley, Norman F May 28, 1896 

232 Greene, Edwin F Mar. 25, 1908 

312 Greene, Henry C Dec. 16, 1909 

220 Greenough, James J April 23, 1907 

263 Greenough, Robert B July 15, 1909 

294 Greenslet, Ferris Nov. 3, 1909 

193 Gregg, Donald April 10, 1905 

92 Guild, Charles E. Jr Nov. 2, 1893 

57 Guild, Courtenay Sept. 28, 1886 

H 

378 Hale, Albert April 21, 1911 

272 Hale, Matthew July 27, 1909 

26 Hall, William S July 2, 1877 

204 Hallett, Henry S May 3, 1895 

70 Hammond, Samuel Jr May 10, 1888 

179 Harding, Charles L April 14, 1904 

313 Hardon, J. Bradford Dec. 16, 1909 

74 Hardy, Alpheus S April 24, 1889 

319 Hartwell, Charles A Dec. 30, 1909 

247 Hartwell, John B. April 16, 1909 

52 Haskell, George E April 27, 1885 

154 Hawes, John B. 2d April 9, 1901 

375 Henderson, Edward V April 14, 1904 

96 Henderson, Walter P April 2, 1894 

113 Herrick, Robert F Nov. 6, 1891 

133 Higginson, Francis L. Jr Sept. 12, 1898 

66 Hill, Arthur D Sept. 22, 1887 

296 Hill, Edward B Nov. 8, 1909 

273 Hobbs, Conrad July 27, 1909 

139 Homans, John June 22, 1899 



300 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

282 Homans, William P. Oct. 5, 1909 

297 Hopkins, Frederick G Nov. 3, 1909 

298 Hopkins, James C Nov. 3, 1909 

390 Hopkins, Nathaniel W May 2, 1911 

264 Hopkins, Samuel A July 14, 1909 

248 Houghton, Frederick O April 16, 1909 

283 Hovey, Edward Clarence Jr Oct. 5, 1909 

158 Howe, Mark A. DeWolfe May 11, 1894 

180 Hubbard, H. V April 14, 1904 

379 Humphrey, Chester B April 21, 1911 

361 Huntington, James Mar. 30, 1910 

353 Hutchins, Henry T Mar. 15, 1910 

J 

15 Jackson, Frank July 14, 1873 

299 Jackson, H. Arnold Nov. 3, 1909 

394 James, Alexander R May 23, 1911 

300 James, Henry 2d Nov. 3, 1909 

314 Johnson, Granville Dec. 16, 1909 

142 Jones, Daniel F Dec. 12, 1899 

315 Jones, Eliot N Dec. 16, 1909 

11 Jones, R. Heber July 1, 1872 

K 

301 Kendall, Alexander Nov. 3, 1909 

391 Kent, Ira Rich May 2, 1911 

L 

165 Lawrence, James Jr Nov. 12, 1902 

41 Lee, Elliot C. May 5, 1879 

18 Lee, George May 4, 1874 

221 Lee, Henry April 23, 1907 

128 Lee, James S Dec. 19, 1897 

233 Lee, Roger I Mar. 25, 1908 

395 Lewis, Samuel W May 23, 1911 

226 Lincoln, Alexander Mar. 17, 1908 

343 Little, John Mason Feb. 10, 1910 

194 Locke, Edwin A April 10, 1905 

316 Lombard, Percival H Dec. 16, 1909 

91 Longfellow, Richard K May 20, 1890 

170 Lord, Bertram April 23, 1903 



APPENDIX C 301 

234 Lord, Frederick T Mar. 25, 1908 

317 Lord, Henry G Dec. 16, 1909 

67 Loud, Charles E Oct. 27, 1887 

59 Loud, Joseph Prince April 8, 1887 

320 Lucas, William P Dec. 30, 1909 

100 Lund, Frederick B June 7, 1894 

97 Lund, Joseph W April 2, 1894 

380 Lunt, Lawrence K April 21, 1911 

227 Luquer, Lynch Mar. 17, 1908 

69 Lyman, C. Frederick May 9, 1888 

M 

284 MacAusland, A. R Oct. 5, 1909 

135 Magrath, George B Oct. 19, 1898 

3 Manning, Francis H May 6, 1868 

265 Marshall, Andrew July 14, 1909 

344 Mason, Henry Lowell Jan. 12, 1898 

224 Mason, N. R Oct. 16, 1907 

362 Maxwell, Frank R. Jr Mar. 30, 1910 

205 May, Ralph April 5, 1906 

148 Maynadier, G. Howard May 5, 1900 

274 Mead, Louis Guy July 27, 1909 

83 Means, James April 10, 1891 

321 Means, James Howard Dec. 30, 1909 

141 Merritt, E. Percival Nov. 29, 1899 

266 Mifflin, G. Harrison Jr July 14, 1909 

345 Minot, William Feb. 10, 1910 

249 Mixter, George 2d April 16, 1909 

381 Morgan, Lawrence W April 21, 1911 

322 Morse, George W Dec. 30, 1909 

346 Mumford, James G April 23, 1888 

145 Murchie, Guy April 5, 1900 

174 Murphy, Fred T Dec. 17, 1900 

285 Murphy, Hermann Dudley Oct. 5, 1909 

N 

323 Nesmith, Fisher Dec. 30, 1909 

250 Nichols, George April 16, 1909 

82 Nutter, George R June 18, 1890 



302 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 



O 

22 Olmstead, James M Aug. 7, 1876 

134 Olmsted, Frederick Law Jr Sept. 12, 1898 

19S Osgood, Robert B Dec. 11, 1903 

P 

239 Palfrey, Francis W April 29, 1908 

347 Parker, Samuel D Feb. 10, 1910 

19 Parkman, Henry Feb. 1, 1875 

302 Partridge, Olcott O Nov. 3, 1909 

171 Payson, Samuel C April 23, 1903 

354 Peirce, Thomas W Mar. 15, 1910 

47 Penhallow, Thomas W June 4, 1883 

363 Percy, Karlton G Mar. 30, 1910 

213 Perkins, James H April 10, 1907 

324 Perry, Arthur Jr Dec. 30, 1909 

325 Perry, Henry H Dec. 30, 1909 

108 Peters, Morris A ! . . . April ii, 1S95 

9S Phelps, John S May 7, 1894 

228 Powers, George H. Jr Mar. 17, 1908 

364 Pratt, Daniel S. Jr Mar. 30, 1910 

372 Pratt, Robert M June 3, 1878 

63 Prescott, George J May 14, 1887 

44 Preston, Gustavo July 22, 1882 

27 Priest, Herbert G June 3, 1878 

251 Proctor, Joseph Osborne Jr April 16, 1909 

326 Prouty, Lewis I Dec. 30, 1909 

48 Putnam, Charles P July 11, 1883 

327 Putnam, George T Dec. 30, 1909 

45 Putnam, James J Aug. 29, 1882 

75 Putnam, William L Aug. 24, 1889 

Q 

210 Quinby, "William C April 17, 1906 

R 

355 Rackemann, Francis M Mar. 15, 1910 

53 Read, N. Goodwin May 4, 1885 

137 Rice, Arthur W Jan. 18, 1899 

181 Rice, John C April 14, 1904 



APPENDIX C 303 

8 Richards, George H Mar. 2, 1870 

37 Richards, William R June 7, 1880 

23 Richardson, Maurice H Mar. 5, 1877 

286 Richardson, Maurice H. Jr Oct. 5, 1909 

371 Risley, Edward H Nov. 25, 1910 

252 Rivers, Robert Wheaton April 16, 1909 

235 Robbins, Chandler Mar. 25, 1908 

236 Robbins, William Bradford Mar. 25, 1908 

2 Robins, Edward B April 4, 1866 

365 Robins, Edward B. Jr Mar. 30, 1910 

25 Rothwell, William H June 4, 1877 

110 Rust, F. L. D July 25, 1895 

S 

356 Sampson, Thompson S Mar. 15, 1910 

43 Sargent, George A June 15, 1882 

382 Sargent, Sullivan A April 21, 1911 

182 Schlesinger, Barthold April 14, 1904 

79 Scudder, Charles L Aug. 12, 1889 

13 Seabury, Frank May 5, 1873 

24 Sears, David April 2, 1877 

80 Sears, George O Aug. 12, 1889 

163 Selfridge, George S June 30, 1902 

84 Sewall, Rufus L April 10, 1891 

28 Shattuck, Frederick C Sept. 2, 1878 

155 Shattuck, George C April 9, 1901 

328 Shaw, Quincy Adams Dec. 30, 1909 

71 Sherman, John P. R May 24, 1888 

275 Shuebruk, Walter July 27, 1909 

185 Simmons, Channing C Dec. 6, 1904 

49 Simmons, Thornton H May 31, 1884 

50 Simpson, Frederick . July 1, 1884 

392 Skillings, William E May 2, 1911 

214 Smith, Earnest Everett April 10, 1907 

215 Smith, W. H April 10, 1907 

329 Smith, William Lord April 24, 1889 

81 Soren, Walter April 14, 1890 

149 Spring, Romney May 18, 1900 

253 Stanton, Horace B April 16, 1909 

330 Stanwood, Philip C Dec. 30, 1909 

199 Stetson, Charles Dec. 11, 1905 

216 Stevens, Arthur W April 10, 1907 

206 Stevenson, R. H. Jr April 5, 1906 



304 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

237 Stone, Charles A Mar. 25, 1908 

222 Stone, Charles W April 23, 1907 

122 Stone, James S Mar. 11, 1897 

111 Storrow, Edward C Feb. 14, 1896 

72 Storrow, James J. Jr Aug. 10, 1888 

7 Sturgis, Charles W June 2, 1869 

161 Sturgis, James McCulloch April 16, 1902 

103 Sturgis, R. Clipston June 18, 1882 

207 Swaim, Loring T April 5, 1906 

187 Swaim, Roger D Feb. 8, 1905 

331 Swain, Howard T Dec. 30, 1909 

85 Sweet, Henry N April 16, 1891 

287 Swift, John B. Jr Oct. 5, 1909 

T 

348 Taft, Edward A. Jr Feb. 10, 1910 

303 Taintor, Charles Wilson Nov. 3, 1909 

267 Talbot, Fritz B July 14, 1909 

318 Tappan, Robert M Dec. 16, 1909 

144 Thayer, Lucien S Mar. 8, 1900 

90 Thorndike, Albert April 3, 1893 

156 Thorndike, Sturgis Hooper April 9, 1901 

332 Thorndike, Townsend W Dec. 30, 1909 

304 Ticknor, Benjamin H. Jr Nov. 3, 1909 

150 Tisdale, Archibald R Jan. 18, 1901 

238 Torbert, James R Mar. 25, 1908 

31 Torrey, Charles Sept. 5, 1879 

60 Townsend, Charles W April 30, 1887 

62 Townsend, William S May 2, 1887 

86 Tudor, Frederick Jr June 25, 1887 

94 Tyson, George Mar. 6, 1894 

V 

114 Vaughan, Henry G April 25, 1896 

33 Vaughan, William W April 5, 1880 

65 Vickery, Herman F July 12, 1887 

208 Vincent, Beth April 5, 1906 

W 

333 Ware, Charles Eliot Jr Dec. 30, 1909 

188 Warner, Roger S Feb. 8, 1905 



APPENDIX C 305 

383 Warren, Samuel D April 21, 1911 

229 Waterbury, Julius B. . . Mar. 17, 1908 

268 Waterman, George A July 14, 1909 

173 Waters, Bertram G June 10, 1903 

209 Webster, Harrison B April 5, 1906 

17 Welch, Francis C April 6, 1874 

131 Weld, Bernard Coffin Jan. 29, 1898 

376 Wellington, Louis B Feb. 21, 1911 

223 Wheeler, Edward C. Jr April 23, 1907 

287 Wheelwright, William B Oct. 5, 1909 

132 Whiteside, Alexander Jr April 25, 1898 

334 Whiting, Max O Dec. 30, 1909 

164 Whitney, Nelson June 30, 1902 

305 Whittemore, Wyman April 16, 1902 

366 Wiggins, Charles 2d Mar. 30, 1910 

39 Wigglesworth, George Feb. 2, 1881 

217 Wight, Delano April 10, 1907 

5 Wightman, Luther H May 5, 1869 

10 UWilliams, Charles H Dec 4, 1871 

34 Williams, Francis H Dec. 4, 1871 

384 Williams, Oliver E April 21, 1911 

335 Williams, Sydney C Dec. 30, 1909 

397 Withington, Paul Aug. 28, 1911 

385 Wodell, R. A April 21, 1911 

183 Wood, Grahame April 14, 1904 

269 Wood, Nathaniel K July 14, 1909 

196 Woodworth, Arthur V May 8, 1905 

Y 

393 Young, Edward L. Jr May 2, 1911 

35 Young, James H April 5, 1880 



LIFE MEMBERS 

§168 Bancroft, Hugh Mar. 9, 1903 

§151 Cabot, Charles M April 9, 1901 

§117 Cabot, Hugh Aug. 3, 1896 

§ 16 Eaton, William S. Jr April 6, 1874 

|| Resumed active membership after election to honorary 
membership. 

§ Formerly active member. 



306 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

§ 54 Milliken, Arthur N April 16, 1886 

§195 Shattuck, Henry L April 10, 1905 



HONORARY MEMBERS 

§Andrews, John A Feb. 13, 1861 

§Borland, William G April 6, 1886 

§Brackett, Henry H Feb. 1, 1860 

Bryant, Nathaniel H June 3, 1857 

§Carpenter, William H Dec. 7, 1859 

§Fay, Joseph S. Jr July 3, 1867 

§Fenno, Edward N Nov. 7, 1866 

§Haskell, Lyman May 23, 1857 

§Kellogg, Warren F Oct. 20, 1884 

§King, L. Stone Nov. 1, 1865 

§Livermore, Horatio P May 11, 1855 

§Smith, George Moore April 7, 1858 

§Smith, Melvin S July 15, 1858 

§Van Rensselaer, A. Van C Aug. 2, 1882 

§Warren, J. Collins June 7, 1880 

§ Formerly active member. 



APPENDIX D 

WINNERS OF CUP RACES FOR SINGLE 

SCULL CHAMPIONSHIP OF UNION 

BOAT CLUB, CHARLES RIVER, 

BOSTON 

May 7, 1866. 2 miles with turn. E. B. Robins. Time, 

19m. 
May, 1866. 2 miles with turn. E. B. Robins. Time, 

18m. 23s. 
June, 1866. 2 miles with turn. F. W. Sargent. Time, 

17m. 30s. 
Aug., 1866. 2 miles with turn. L. S. King (record lost). 
June 27, 1867. 2 miles with turn. L. S. King. Time, 

16m. 38s. 
May 13, 1868. 2 miles with turn. J. S. Fay Jr. Time, 

18m. 30s. 
May 26, 1870. 2 miles with turn. J. S. Fay Jr. Time, 

16m. 54s. 
Oct. 1, 1870. 2 miles with turn. Wm. Appleton Jr. 

Time 19m. 393,4s. 
May 29, 1871. 2 miles with turn. Wm. Appleton Jr. 

Time, 19m. 18s. 
Oct. 7, 1872. 2 miles with turn. Wm. Appleton Jr. 
Oct. 1, 1874. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 

Time, 16m. 50s. 
Oct. 5, 1875. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 

Time, 17m. 55s. 
May 31, 1876. 2 miles with turn. George Lee. Time, 

16m. 23s. 

307 



308 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Oct. 12, 1876. 2 miles with turn. George Lee. Time, 

15m. 31s. 
June 2, 1877. 2 miles with turn. I. H. Houghton. 

Time, 16m. 17s. 
Oct. 2, 1877. 2 miles with turn. George Lee. Time, 

15m. 32s. 
Oct. 5, 1878. 2 miles with turn. I. H. Houghton. 

Time, 14m. 31s. 
June 5, 188.0. 2 miles with turn. George Lee. Time, 

14m. 47s. 
Oct. 9, 1880. 2 miles with turn. Charles Torrey. 

Time, 16m. 4s. 
June 23, 1881. 2 miles with turn. I. H. Houghton. 

Time, 15m. 25l/ 2 s. 
June 28, 1882. 2 miles with turn. R. N. Cutler. Time, 

16m. 17%s. 
Oct. 4, 1882. 2 miles with turn. R. N. Cutler. Time, 

16m. 45s. 
May 27, 1887. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 

Time, 16m. 49s. 
Nov. 10, 1887. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton 

Jr. 
June 16, 1888. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 

Time, 19m. 10s. 
Oct. 18, 1888. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 
May 18, 1889. 2 miles with turn. W. S. Eaton Jr. 

Time, 16m. 30s. 
May 30, 1890. R. P. Blake. 
June 13, 1891. J. Van Stratten. 
Oct. 11, 1892. F. Tudor Jr. 

Oct. 30, 1893. 1% miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 
Oct. 8, 1894. ll/ 2 miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 
June 13, 1895. iy 2 miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 

Time, 12m. 20s. 
June 16, 1896. 1% miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 

Time, 10m. 48s. 



APPENDIX D 309 

Oct. 15, 1896. ll/ 2 miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 

Time, 11m. 31s. 
May 21, 1897. iy 2 miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 

Time, 11m. 34s. 
Oct. 6, 1897. iy 2 miles with turn. F. Tudor Jr. 

Time, 11m. 29%s. 
Oct. 11, 1899. 1% miles with turn. W. P. Henderson. 

1900. 1% miles with turn. R. P. Blake. 
June 13, 1901. 1% miles with turn. W. P. Henderson. 
Sept. 4, 1903. iy> miles with turn. W. P. Henderson. 



RACES IN WHICH THE UNION BOAT 
CLUB HAS HAD ENTRIES 

(This list may not be complete, and additions or corrections will 
be welcomed by the Secretary of the Club.) 

Sept. 13, 1853. Regatta at Hull. 

Four oars and six oars. 7 miles. Four entries. 
Time, 33m. 15s. First, U. B. C, W. D. W. 
Allan, A. Whitman Jr., H. C. Ahlborn, R. J. 
Bulger ; Second, U. B. C. 
July 4, 1854. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Two, four, six and eight oars. 6 miles. Eight 

entries. The U. B. C. four was disabled. 
Single Sculls. 3 miles. Time, 30m. 55s. First, 
U. B. C, W. D. W. Allan. 
June, 1855. Charles River Amateur Boat Club Asso- 
ciation Regatta. U. B. C. wherry. U. B. C. four. 
Several other entries. 
July 21, 1855. Connecticut River, Springfield, Mass. 
3 miles, with turn. Time, 21m. 45s. Time row, 
scratch crew, composed of J. Ewing (Harvard), 
L. Ewing (Harvard), A. E. R. Agassiz (Har- 



310 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

vard), W. D. W. Allan, A. Whitman Jr., H. C. 
Ahlborn. 

Oct. 27, 1855. Charles River Amateur Boat Club As- 
sociation Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Six oars and four oars. 2 miles. Three or four 
entries. Time, 25m. 3s. Second, U. B. C, H. P. 
Livermore, H. C. Ahlborn, A. Whitman Jr., 
D. W. Rogers, R. J. Bulger, G. Higginson Jr. 

June 23, 1856. Charles River Amateur Boat Club 
Association. 
Four and six oars. 3 miles. Time, 22m. 33s. 
Four or five entries. First, Valant Boat Club; 
Second, U. B. C, G. W. Smalley, A. Whitman 
Jr., F. G. Richards, H. P. Livermore. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Two entries. Time, 17m. 
3s. First, U. B. C, A. Whitman Jr. 

June 13, 1857. Beacon Cup Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Six and eight oars. 3 miles. Time, 19m. 51s. 
First, U. B. C, E. S. Whitman, stroke, G. W. 
Smalley, N. H. Bryant, A. G. Baxter Jr., A. 
Whitman Jr., A. Webster Jr.; Second, Harvard 
eight. 20m. 20 1 /2S. Third, Urania Club ; Fourth, 
Harvard six; Fifth, Harvard six. 

July 4, 1857. New Bedford City Regatta, New Bed- 
ford, Mass. 
Entries, 30 whaleboats. First, U. B. C, A. Whit- 
man Jr., G. W. Smalley, G. W. Hunkins, A. 
Webster Jr. 

July 4, 1857. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Single Sculls. 3 miles. Time, 24m. First, Henry 
Whitman (not yet a member of U. B. C. but 
elected soon afterwards). 

June 22, 1859. Beacon Cup Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 



APPENDIX D 311 

Double Sculls. 2 miles. Three entries. Time, 

14m. 31s. First, U. B. C, W. H. Carpenter, 

H. H. Brackett. 
July 4, 1859. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Double Sculls. 2 miles. Four entries. Time, 14m. 

49s. Second, U. B. C, W. H. Carpenter, H. H. 

Brackett. 
Oct. — , 1859. Charles River, Boston. 

Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Three entries. 

First, Joshua Ward (Champion of America) ; 

Third, U. B. C, A. Whitman Jr. (Whitman led 

at stake but disabled his left arm). 
Oct. — , 1859. New Bedford, Mass. 

Four oars. Four or five entries. First, U. B. C, 

H. Whitman, A. G. Baxter Jr., J. Dingley, A. 

Webster Jr. 
May 11, 1860. Amateurs' Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Novice Single Sculls. 2 miles. Five entries. Time, 

17s. First, U. B. C, J. D. Parker Jr. 
June 18, 1860. Seventeenth of June Regatta. Mystic 

River, Charlestown, Mass. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Five entries. Time, 15m. 

42s. First, U. B. C, M. S. Smith. 
Four oars. 6 entries. Time, 14m. 23s. First, 

Harvard College Sophomores; Second, U. B. C, 

A. Webster Jr., A. Whitman Jr., H. Whitman, 

W. H. Carpenter, A. G. Baxter Jr., J. Dingley. 

The Harvard Varsity entered but was disabled. 
July 4, 1860. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Four and six oars. 3 miles. Four entries. Time, 

18m. 53%s. U. B. C. broke outrigger and with- 
drew. A. Whitman Jr., W. H. Carpenter, A. G. 

Baxter Jr., H. Whitman, F. B. Cotton, cox. 



312 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Single Sculls. Six entries. Time, 14m. 2 1 /£s. 
First, U. B. C, M. S. Smith. 
July — , 1860. Citizens' Regatta. Lake Quins igamond, 
Worcester, Mass. 
Six oars. Three entries. Time, 18m. 37s. First, 
Newbury, N. Y; Second, Yale; Third, U. B. C. 
July 23, 1860. Beacon Cup Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Single Sculls. Several entries. First, U. B. C, 
M. S. Smith. 
July 4, 1861. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Double Sculls. 2 miles. Four entries. Time, 12m. 
54l/ 2 s. First, U. B. C, J. D. Parker Jr., W. H. 
Carpenter; Second, Joshua Ward (Champion of 
America), G. W. Shaw. 
July 4, 1862. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Six oars. 3 miles. Two entries. First, U. B. C, 
J. Dingley, stroke, J. G. Morse, C. F. Manson, 
S. M. Lovejoy, E. W. Chamberlin, J. P. Love- 
joy, bow. 
Four oars. 3 miles. Three entries. Time, 21m. 
ll/ 2 s. Third, U. B. C, W. H. Carpenter, stroke, 
W. H. Minot, A. G. Baxter Jr., Henry Whitman, 
bow, F. B. Cotton, cox. 
July 4, 1866. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Four oars. 3 miles. Six entries. Time, 20m. 39s. 
U. B. C. not placed. L. S. King, stroke, H. F. 
Lambert, G. H. B. Hill, E. B. Robins, bow. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Five entries. 
Time, 17m. Fifth, U. B. C, F. W. Sargent. 
June 17, 1867. Mystic River, Charlestown. 

Four oars. 4 miles (1 mile and return twice). Five 
entries. Time, 29m. Third, U. B. C, L. S. King, 



APPENDIX D 313 

stroke, J. E. Deblois, R. H. Richards, G. H. B. 

Hill, bow. 
July 4, 1867. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Eight entries. Time, 17m. 

48s. L. S. King, not placed. 
May 22, 1868. New England Rowing Association 

Regatta. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Eight entries. 

Time, 15m. 31s. First, U. B. C, J. Tyler Jr.; 

Second, U. B. C, J. S. Fay Jr. ; Sixth, U. B. C, 

Wm. Appleton Jr. 
June 17, 1868. Mystic River, Charlestown. 

Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Seven entries. 

Time, 15m. 2s. First, U. B. C, J. S. Fay Jr.; 

Third, U. B. C, W. Appleton Jr. 
Four oars. 4 miles (1 mile and return twice). Six 

entries. Time, 28m. 49s. Third, U. B. C, D. 

Sargent, bow, L. S. King, J. S. Fay Jr., J. 

Tyler Jr., stroke. 
July 4, 1868. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Three entries. 

Time, 15m. 35s. Third, U. B. C, J. Tyler Jr. 
Double Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Six entries. 

Time, 14m. 24%s. First, U. B. C, J. Tyler Jr., 

J. S. Fay Jr. 
July 4, 1868. Lowell City Regatta. Merrimack River, 

Lowell. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Four entries. Time, 15m. 

49s. First, U. B. C, J. S. Fay Jr. 
April 8, 1869. Mystic River, Charlestown. 

Four oars. 2% miles, with turn. Four entries. 

Time, 17m. 55s. Fourth, U. B. C, D. Sargent, 

bow, J. Tyler Jr., E. N. Fenno, J. S. Fay Jr., 

stroke. 



314 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

June 15, 1869. New England Rowing Association Re- 
gatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Seven entries. 
Time, 16m. 48s. Second, U. B. C, W. Appleton 
Jr. ; Fourth, U. B. C, J. Tyler Jr. 
June 17, 1869. Mystic River, Charlestown. 

Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Four entries. 
Time, 14m. 17s. Third, U. B. C, L. S. King. 
June 17, 1870. Mystic River, Charlestown. 

Single Sculls. 2 miles, with turn. Three entries. 
Time, 15m. 41s. Second, U. B. C, W. Apple- 
ton Jr. 
July 4, 1872. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Six entries. Time, 15m. 
16s. U. B. C. entries, J. A. Lowell, J. G. Francis, 
not placed. 
Oct. 3, 1874. Jamaica Pond Regatta, Jamaica Pond, 
Boston. 
Four oars. 1% miles, with three turns. First, 
U. B. C, R. H. Jones, stroke, W. S. Eaton Jr., 
E. C. Ellis, C. H. Williams, bow. Other erftries, 
Jamaica Boat Club, Brookline Boat Club. 
Single Lapstreaks. % mile, with turn. Four en- 
tries. Time, 6m. 10s. First, U. B. C, W. S. 
Eaton Jr. 
July 5, 1875. Jamaica Pond Regatta. Jamaica Pond, 
Boston. 

Four oars. 1% miles. Second, U. B. C, , 

stroke, W. S. Eaton Jr., H. Parkman, , 

bow. 
Single Sculls. First, U. B. C, W. S. Eaton Jr. 
July 4, 1877. Jamaica Pond Regatta, Jamaica Pond, 
Boston. 
Single Sculls. 1% miles. Three entries. Time, 
6m. 6s. First, U. B. C, Frank Seabury. 



APPENDIX D .315 

May 18, 1878. Race with Harvard University Eight. 

Charles River, Boston. 
Four oars. 2 miles, with turn. Time, 13m. 27s. 

First, U. B. C, F. Peabody Jr., stroke, C. H. 

Williams, I. H. Houghton, R. H. Jones, bow. 
May 30, 1878. Eastern Rowing Association Regatta. 

Silver Lake, Newton. 
Single Sculls. 2 miles. Six entries. Time, 14m. 

13%s. First, Pawtucket, R. I.; Second, Har- 
vard B. C; Third, U. B. C, I. H. Houghton. 
July 5, 1880. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Single Sculls. Three miles. Nine entries. Time, 

23m. 22s. Third, U. B. C, G. Lee. 
July 4, 1881. City of Boston Regatta. Charles River, 

Boston. 
3 miles. Nine entries. Time, 22m. 24s. F. Holmes, 

not placed. I. H. Houghton, not placed. 
April 19, 1883. Race with Harvard Freshmen Eight. 

Charles River, Boston. 
1 mile. First, U. B. C, F. Peabody Jr., stroke, 

R. H. Dana Jr., Smith, N. Bingham, R. 

Bacon, W. S. Eaton Jr., C. H. Williams, R. H. 

Jones, bow, Walker, cox. 

May 5, 1883. Race with Harvard University Eight. 

Charles River, Boston. 
1% miles. First, U. B. C, R. H. Jones, bow, I. H. 

Houghton, W. S. Eaton Jr., R. H. Dana, 

Smith, N. Bingham, C. H. Williams, R. Bacon, 

stroke. 
Sept. 4, 1893. Labor Day Regatta of New England 

Amateur Rowing Association. Charles River, 

Boston. 
Junior Doubles. 1% miles, with turn. Time, 12m. 

5s. First, U. B. C, F. Tudor Jr., stroke, H. C. 

Cushing Jr. ; Second, Shawmut R. C. 



316 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Sept. 5, 1894. Labor Day Regatta of New England 
Amateur Rowing Association. Charles River, 
Boston. 

Intermediate Singles. 2 miles. Time, 10m. 28s. 
First, Bradford B. C. ; Second, Riverside B. C. ; 
Third, Riverside B.C.; Fourth, U. B. C., F. 
Tudor, Jr. 

Junior Fours. Time, 10m. 2%s. First, U. B. C, 
J. W. Lund, bow, W. P. Henderson, T. H. Sim- 
mons, F. Tudor Jr., stroke ; Second, Crescent B. C. 
June 17, 1896. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Junior Singles. Time, 11m. 41s. First, U. B. C, 
R. P. Blake; Second, Riverside B.C.; Third, 
Weld B. C. 
June 17, 1897. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Junior Singles. Time, 11m. 35s. First, Massa- 
chusetts B.C.; Second, U. B. C, J. P. Gardi- 
ner; Third, Weld B. C. ; Fourth, Lynn A. & R.C. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 11m. 16s. First, 
Weld B.C.; Second, U. B. C, R. P. Blake; 
Third, Lynn A. & R. C. ; Fourth, City Point R. C. 
July 5, 1897. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Junior Doubles. Time, 10m. 22s. First, U. B. C, 
J. P. Gardiner, bow, W. P. Henderson, stroke; 
Second, Riverside B.C.; Third, Bradford B.C. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 11m. ll%s. First, 
U. B. C, R. P. Blake; Second, Riverside B. C. 
Sept. 6, 1897. Annual Labor Day Regatta of New 
England Amateur Rowing Association. Charles 
River, Boston. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 11m. 25%s. First, 
Springfield B.C.; Second, U. B. C, J. P. 
Gardiner. 



APPENDIX D 317 

June 17, 1899. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Junior Fours. Time, 9m. 35s. First, U. B. C, 
A. S. Hardy, bow, H. Cabot, R. P. Blake, G. B. 
Magrath, stroke; Second, Weld B. C. 
July 29, 1899. National Association of Amateur Oars- 
men Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Intermediate Doubles. Time, 10m. 2%s. First, 
Jeffries Point R. A. ; Second, Boston Athletic 
Association; Third, Malta B.C., Philadelphia; 
Fourth, Y. M. Gymnastic R. C, New Orleans ; 
Fifth, Dauntless R. C, New York; Sixth, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson, stroke, J. P. Gar- 
diner, bow. 
June 18, 1900. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Intermediate Fours. Time, 9m. 58%s. First, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson, bow, A. S. Hardy, 
R. P. Blake, G. B. Magrath, stroke; Second, 
Weld B. C. 

Novice Singles. Time, 12m. 17s. First, U. B. C, 
A. S. Hardy; Second, Weld B. C; Third, Weld 
B.C. 

Senior Singles. Time, 11m. 2%s. First, Jeffries 
Point B.C.; Second, Weld B.C.; Third, 
U. B. C, R. P. Blake; Fourth, Boston Athletic 
Association; Fifth, Springfield B.C. 
July 4, 1900. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Senior Fours. Time, 10m. 6s. First, Jeffries 
Point R. A.; Second, U. B. C, W. P. Henderson, 
bow, R. P. Blake, L. Davis, G. B. Magrath, 
stroke. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 12m. 28s. First, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson; Second, Union B. C. 
of New York. 



318 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

June 17, 1901. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 11m. 15s. First, 
Bradford B. C. ; Second, U. B. C., J. P. Gardiner. 

Senior Fours. Time, 9m. 30s. First, Newell B. C. ; 
Second, Millstream B. C; Third, U. B. C, G. O. 
Clark, bow, J. B. Hawes 2d, W. P. Henderson, 
G. B. Magrath, stroke. 
July 4, 1901. New England Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Senior Singles. Time, 10m. 37%s. First, Wachu- 
sett B.C.; Second, U. B. C, W. P. Henderson; 
Third, St. Alphonsus A. A. ; Fourth, Jeffries 
Point R. A. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 10m. 37s. First, 
Laureat B. C. (Troy, N. Y.) ; Second, U. B. C, 
J. P. Gardiner; Third, Boston Athletic Associa- 
tion ; Fourth, Riverside B. C. ; Fifth, Shawmut 
B.C. 
Sept. 2, 1901. New England Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Fall Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 10m. 30s. First, 
Riverside B.C.; Second, U. B. C, George Lee; 
Third, Arlington B. C. 

Association Singles. Time, 10m. 40s. First, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson ; Second, Boston 
Athletic Association; Third, Bradford B.C. 

Junior Singles. Time, 11m. 2%s. First, U. B. C, 
G. O. Clark; Second, Quincy B.C. (Worcester, 
Mass.); Third, Shawmut R. C; Fourth, Cum- 
berland R. A. (Portland, Me.). 
June 21, 1902. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Senior Singles. Time, 10m. 58s. First, Boston 
Athletic Association; Second, Riverside B.C.; 



APPENDIX D 319 

Third, Boston Athletic Association; Fourth, 
Newell B.C.; Fifth, U. B. C., George Lee. 
June 17, 1903. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Senior Singles. Time, 11m. 6s. First, U. B. C, 
R. P. Blake; Second, Boston Athletic Associa- 
tion; Third, Shawmut B.C.; Fourth, Boston 
Athletic Association. 

Senior Eights. Time, 8m. 52s. First, U. B. C, 
E. Gray Jr., bow, W. P. Henderson, J. B. 
Hawes 2d, R. Lawrence, G. B. Magrath, H. 
Bancroft, J. Lawrence Jr., G. Bancroft, stroke, 
G. C. Shattuck, cox. ; Second, Riverside B. C. 
July 2, 1903. American Rowing Association Regatta. 
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 

First Singles. Time, 9m. 22s. First, Boston Ath- 
letic Association; Second, U. B. C, R. P. Blake; 
Third, Dolphin Club. 

First Eights. Time, 6m. 38s. First, Argonaut; 
Second, Yale Freshmen; Third, University of 
Pennsylvania; Fourth, U. B. C, E. Gray Jr., 
bow, W. P. Henderson, J. B. Hawes 2d, R. F. 
Blake, G. B. Magrath, H. Bancroft, J. Lawrence 
Jr., G. Bancroft, stroke, G. C. Shattuck, cox. 
Substitutes, R. Lawrence, J. H. Ellis, R. P. 
Blake. 
July 25, 1903. St. Joseph's Athletic Association Re- 
gatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Novice Singles. 1% miles. Time, 13m. 15%s. 
First, U. B. C, J. B. Hawes 2d; Second, St. 
Joseph's A. A. 

Senior Singles, l 1 /^ miles. Time, 11m. 49s. First, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson; Second, Riverside 
B. C. ; Third, B. A. A. 
May 30, 1904. American Rowing Association Regatta. 
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 



320 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

First Singles. Time, 10m. 3s. First, University- 
Barge Club; Second, Vesper B.C.; Third, 
U. B. C, W. P. Henderson. 
First Eights. Time, 7m. 5s. First, Vesper B. C. ; 
Second, University of Pennsylvania Second Var- 
sity and U. B. C. tied. H. Adams 2d, bow, 
R. F. Blake, G. B. Magrath, R. Lawrence, J. 
Lawrence Jr., H. Bancroft, F. L. Higginson Jr., 
C. Harding, stroke, H. A. Wadleigh, cox. 

June 17, 1904. Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Junior Doubles. Time, 10m. 20s. First, Riverside 
B.C.; Second, U. B. C, E. Gray Jr., J. B. 
Ayer Jr. ; Third, St. Joseph's A. A. 
Senior Fours. First, U. B. C, H. Adams 2d, bow, 
R. F. Blake, G. B. Magrath, H. Bancroft, stroke; 
Second, Jeffries Point R. A. ; Third, St. Joseph's 
A. A. (to be rowed over on account of foul be- 
tween Jeffries Point and St. Joseph's). 

May 27, 1905. American Rowing Association Regatta. 
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 
First Fours, l 1 /^ miles. Time, 7m. 19s. First, 
Philadelphia B. C. ; Second, Harvard Univer- 
sity; Third, Vesper B. C; Fourth, U. B. C, H. 
Adams 2d, bow, R. F. Blake, G. B. Magrath, 
G. Derby, stroke. 

July 4, 1906. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Intermediate Singles. Time, 11m. 53%s. First, 
U. B. C, J. B. Ayer Jr. ; Second, St. Alphon- 
sus A. A, 

July 28, 1906. Massachusetts Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Junior Singles. 1% miles. Time, 11m. 4s. First, 
Wachusett B. C. ; Second, Newell B. C. ; Third, 
U. B. C, J. W. Farley. 



APPENDIX D 321 

Intermediate Singles. 1% miles. Time, 12m. 
21s. First, U. B. Co., J. B. Hawes 2d; Second, 
B. A. A. 
July 4, 1907. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Senior Fours. Time, 9m. 36s. First, Jeffries Point 
R. A. ; Second, Riverside B. C. ; Third, U. B. C, 
R. May, J. B. Hawes 2d, G. B. Magrath, R. F. 
Blake. 
Aug. 3, 1907. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 
Junior Singles. Time, 12m. 10s. First, Riverside 
B. C; Second, U. B. C, E. E. Smith; Third, St. 
Joseph's A. A. ; Fourth, Boston Athletic Asso- 
ciation; Fifth, East Boston B.C. 
July 4, 1908. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion. Charles River, Boston. 
Senior Eights. Time, 7m. 16s. First, Riverside 

B. C. ; Second, U. B. C. 

May 21, 1910. American Rowing Association Regatta. 

Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Second Singles. Eight entries. Time, 8m. 50%s. 

First, Harlem R.C.; Second, U. B. C, E. E. 

Smith; Third, Malta B. C. 
Special Interclub Eights. Five entries. Time, 7m. 

32%s. First, Wahnetah B. C; Second, U. B. C, 

C. Wiggins, bow, J. W. Cutler, R. H. Gardiner 
Jr., P. Shurtleff, J. B. Ayer Jr., A. G. Gill, E. 

Cutler, E. Farley, stroke, , cox.; Third, 

Potomac B. C. 

Second Fours. Time, 8m. l%s. First, Malta B. C; 
Second, Aril R. C. ; Third, University of Penn- 
sylvania; Fourth, U. B. C, C. Wiggins, bow, 
J. W. Cutler, E. Cutler, E. Farley, stroke. 
July 4, 1910. Schuylkill Navy, People's Regatta. 
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 



322 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Junior Singles. 1*4 miles. Time, 7m. 55%s. 
First, U. B. C, E. E. Smith; Second, University- 
Barge Club; Third, Pennsylvania Barge Club; 
Fourth, Harlem R. C. ; Fifth, Undine Barge 
Club ; Sixth, Sheepshead Bay R. C. ; Seventh, 
Metropolitan R. C. 

Intermediate Singles. 1^4 miles. Time, 7m. 48s. 
First, U. B. C., E. E. Smith; Second, New York 
Athletic Club; Third, Harlem R. C; Fourth, 
New Rochelle R. C; Fifth, Malta B.C.; Sixth, 
West Philadelphia B. C. 
July 4, 1910. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Annual Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Novice Singles. Time, 15m. 48s. First, River- 
side B.C.; Second, Metropolitan R. C; Third, 
U. B. C, W. N. Gere; Fourth, Columbian 
R.A. 

Junior Singles. Time, 14m. 48s. First, U. B. C, 
C. Wiggins ; Second, St. Alphonsus B. C. ; Third, 
Metropolitan R. C. 
Aug. 12, 1910. National Association of Amateur Oars- 
men Annual Regatta. Potomac River, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Senior Singles, l 1 /^ miles. First, Vesper B.C.; 
Second, Harlem R. C. ; Third, Argonaut B.C.; 
Fourth, U. B. C, E. E. Smith. 
Sept. 5, 1910. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Fall Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Senior Singles. Time, 10m. 40s. First, U. B. C, 
E. E. Smith; Second, Metropolitan R. C. (New 
York) ; Third, Boston Athletic Association ; 
Fourth, U. B. C, J. B. Ayer; Fifth, Springfield 
R. C; Sixth, Farragut R. C. (Lynn). 
Oct. 12, 1910. Columbus Day Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 

Senior Singles. Time, 8m. 30s. First, U. B. C, 



APPENDIX D 323 

E. E. Smith; Second, Riverside B.C.; Third, 
Boston Athletic Association. 

Centipedes. % mile. Time, 4m. 10s. First, 
U. B. C, R. May, bow, L. G. Brooks, J. B. Ayer, 
C. Wiggins, stroke; Second, Riverside B. C. 

Senior Doubles. Time, 8m. 15s. First, Metropoli- 
tan B.C.; Second, U. B. C, E. E. Smith, C. 
Wiggins. 

Junior Singles. Time, 9m. 30s. First, St. Alphon- 
sus A. A.; Second, U. B. C, R. May (shell sank). 
May 27, 1911. American Rowing Association Regatta. 
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Special Interclub Second Eights. 1 mile, 550 yds. 
Time, 6m. 54l/ 5 s. First, U. B. C, C. Wiggins, 
bow, E. Cutler, R. Tappan, W. N. Gere, R. 
Wodell, R. Lunt, J. B. Ayer, E. Farley, stroke, 
A. G. Gill, cox. ; Second, Malta B. C. 

Second Singles. 1 mile, 550 yds. First, U. B. C, 
E. E. Smith. Other entries, Arundel B. C, 
West Philadelphia B. C, United States Naval 
Academy. 
May SO, 1911. Harlem Regatta Association Annual 
Regatta. Harlem River, New York, N. Y. 

Junior Singles, l 1 /^ miles. Time, 9m. Is. First, 
New Rochelle R. C; Second, U. B. C, E. E. 
Smith; Third, Atlanta B. C. 

Single Sculls. Quarter mile. Time, lm. 34s. First, 
Harlem R. C; Second, U. B. C, E. E. Smith. 
July 4, 1911. New England Amateur Rowing Associa- 
tion Regatta. Charles River, Boston. 

Centipedes. Time, 8m. 21l/ 5 s. First, U. B. C, R. 
May, bow, W. N. Gere, J. B. Ayer, C. Wiggins, 
stroke; Second, Metropolitan R. C. (New York). 

Novice Singles. Time, 12m. 18s. First, Farragut 
B.C. (Lynn); Second, U. B. C, J. Homans; 
Third, U. B. C, N. R. Mason. 



324 THE UNION BOAT CLUB 

Senior Singles. Time, 10m. 25s. First, Riverside 
B.C.; Second, U. B. C., E. E. Smith; Third, 
Boston Athletic Association; Fourth, Farragut 
B. C. ; Fifth, St. Alphonsus A. A. ; Sixth, Hudson 
B.C. (New York); Seventh, Shawmut R. C; 
Eighth, Harlem R. C. (New York). 

Senior Eights. Time, 8m. 5s. First, U. B. C., R. 
May, bow, C. Wiggins, G. B. Magrath, W. N. 
Gere, G. S. Derby, S. A. Sargent Jr., J. B. Ayer, 
E. Farley, stroke, A. Drinkwater, cox.; Second, 
Riverside B. C. 
July 28, 1911. National Association of Amateur Oars- 
men Annual Regatta. Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

Intermediate Singles. 1^4 miles. Time, 8m. 45 %s. 
First, U. B. C, W. N. Gere; Second, Springfield 
B. C. ; Third, Riverside B. C. ; Fourth, Malta 
B. C; Fifth, West Lynn B. C. 

Senior Singles. Time, 8m. ll%s. First, Argonaut 
R. C; Second, New Rochelle R. C; Third, 
Harlem R. C; Fourth, U. B. C, E. E.. Smith. 

Intermediate Double Sculls. Time, 7m. 44s. First, 
U. B. C, W. N. Gere, C. Wiggins ; Second, Ves- 
per B.C.; Third, New Rochelle R. C; Fourth, 
Rockrimmon B.C.; Fifth, Fairmount R. A. ; 
Sixth, University Barge Club (Philadelphia) ; 
Seventh, Springfield B. C. 

Senior Quadruple Sculls. Time, 6m. 48%s. First, 
Vesper B. C. ; Second, Nonpareil R. C. ; Third, 
U. B. C, E. E. Smith, W. N. Gere, C. Wiggins, 
J. B. Ayer. 
Sept. 4, 1911. New England Amateur Rowing Asso- 
ciation Annual Fall Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 

Intermediate Singles. Time, 10m. 19%s. First, 
U. B. C, P. Withington; Second, Northwest Arm 
B.C. (Halifax, N. S.). 



APPENDIX D 325 

Junior Singles. Time, 10m. 55s. First, U. B. C, 
R. May; Second, U. B. C, J. Homans; Third, 
Riverside B. C. ; Fourth, Atalanta B. C. (Spring- 
field). 

Novice Singles. Time, 11m. 45s. First, Atalanta 

B. C.j Second, U. B. C, H. A. Jackson. 
Senior Fours. Time, 9m. 37s. First, Northwest 

Arm, B. C. (Halifax, N. S.) ; Second, U. B. C, 
S. A. Sargent Jr., J. B. Ayer, P. Withington, 
F. R. Maxwell. 

Senior Eights. Time, 8m. 31s. First, U. B. C, 
R. May, bow, L. G. Brooks, G. B. Magrath, 
F. R. Maxwell, G. S. Derby, P. Withington, 
J. B. Ayer, S. A. Sargent Jr., stroke, F. W. 
Palfrey, cox. ; Second, Riverside B.C. 
Oct. 12, 1911. Columbus Day Regatta. Charles River, 
Boston. 

Senior Doubles. Time, 10m. 5s. First, U. B. C, 

C. Wiggins, E. E. Smith; Second, Metropolitan 
R. C. 

Junior Singles. Time, 12m. 8s. First, Riverside 
B.C.; Second, Sheepshead Bay; Third, U. B. C, 
H. A. Jackson; Fourth, U. B. C, E. L. Young Jr. 

Senior Singles. Time, 10m. 54s. First, Boston 
Athletic Association; Second, U. B. C, P. With- 
ington; Third, U. B. C, C. Wiggins; Fourth, 
St. Alphonsus B. C. ; Fifth, Farragut B. C. ; 
Sixth, Gardner B. C. 

Centipedes. Time, 8m. 50s. First, U. B. C, C. 
Wiggins, P. Withington, J. B. Ayer, E. E. Smith; 
Second, Metropolitan R. C. 



APPENDIX E 









THE 


LOG 








The boats of the Club were pulled in 


MILES 


MILES 


1857 ... . 2,004 


1882 .... 5,593 


1858 . 






1,627% 


1883 . 






5,226 


1859 . 






3,718 


1884 . 






5,2283/4 


1860 . 






3,917 


1885 . 






5,7033/4 


1861 . 






4,420 


1886 . 






7,464% 


1862 . 






3,016 


1887 . 






13,07714 


1863 . 






1,022 


1888 . 






9,099 


1864- . 






245 


1889 . 






8,5783/4 


1865 . 






1,367% 


1890 . 






9,6713/4 


1866 . 






2,106% 


1891 . 






10,048 


1867 . 






2,889 


1892 . 






8,880 


1868 . 








1893 . 






6,538 


1869 . 








1894 . 






7,619% 


1870 . 








1895 . 






5,7341/4 


1871 . 








1896 . 






5,630 


1872 . 






4,133 


1897 . 






6,287 


1873 . 








1898 . 






4,253 


1874 . 






6,116 


1899 . 






4,187 


1875 . 






6,889% 


1900 . 






4,787 


1876 . 






5,446 


1901 . 






3,906 


1877 . 






6,018% 


1902 . 






5,197 


1878 . 






5,235 


1903 . 






3,393 


1879 . 






4,963% 


1904 . 






3,705% 


1880 . 






5,574% 


1905 . 






4,051 


1881 . 






4,5743/4 


1906 . 






5,123% 



APPENDIX E 327 





MILES 




MILES 


1907 . . 


■ • 1,121% 


1910 . . , 


. . 5,383l/ 2 


1908 . . 


. . 2,4731/2 


1911 . . , 


, . 5,061% 


1909 . . 


. . 3,4791/2 







The logs previous to 1857 cannot be found. 

The number of miles logged is less than the number 
of miles the boats were actually pulled. 

The large figures in the '80's and '90's are due in 
some instances to the fact that canoe trips were logged. 



APPENDIX F 

NAVY 

Eights: Calliope, Argo. 

Four: Neptune. 

Centipede Fours: Amphitrite, Philadelphia, 
Whizz-Fish. 

Double Shells: Union, Atlanta, Arlington. 

Racing Singles: Cygnet, Petrel, Osprey. 

Practice Singles: Albatross, Aileen, Curlew. 

Compromise Singles: Artemis, Dolphin, Spider, 
Doris, Sea-Mew. 

Single Wherries: Dione, Bittern, Penguin, 
Stranger. 

Double Wherry: Evadne. 

Tub Pair: One. 

Randans : Four. 

Besides the regular club boats in commission and 
canoes, the boat-house during the past year cared 
for the following boats in active use : 

Five singles, the property of members. 

Five four-oared shells belonging to the Schoolboy 
Rowing Association. 

There were also not in commission two eights and 
one four belonging to Stone's School. 



INDEX 



Accidents, 176-178. 

Agreement with Trustees, article 
of constitution, 189. 

Allan, William Dudley Wood- 
bridge, 15, 23, 25, 26. 

Amateur rowing associations, 36. 

Annisquam Encampment, 22, 58- 
60, 69, 89-91. 

Anniversaries, 222, 223. 

Annual dues, 97, 180, 182, 185, 
187. 

Appleton, William, 129, 130, 133. 

Argo, the, 124, 172, 173. 

Ariadne, the, 27, 30-33, 39, 74, 87, 
88. 

Baker's River, 200. 
Baldwin, T. T., 146. 
Barnacle, the, 111, 124. 
Bathing from rafts, 114, 115. 
Baxter, A. G., 90, 91, 99, 102, 223. 
Beacon regatta, and cup, 40, 41, 

44-51. 
Beacon Rowing Club, 71, 72. 
Bentinck-Smith, W. F., 198. 
Blake, R. P., 161. 
Boat House. See Quarters of the 

Club. 
Boats. See Navy. 
Boston Athletic Association, 127, 

140, 142, 143, 159. 
Brackett, Henry H., 40, 70. 
Braman and Braman's Baths, 2, 

5-7, 60-62, 66, 70, 71, 101, 102. 
Bullock, R. A., 167, 191. 
By-laws, 99, 181, 183, 187. 



Canoe Log, 196, 197. 

Canoes, 106, 108, 109, 123, 124, 

131, 133, 134, 192. 
Canoe trips, 78, 79, 166, 190-207. 
Carpenter, W. H., 28, 40, 41, 

149. 
Chamberlin, E. M., 90, 101, 149. 
Champion Rules, 129. 
Championship Cup, 82. 
Charles River, in the '50s, 6-9; in 

the early '70s, 116, 117; as 

canoeing waters, 204-205. 
Charles River Amateur Boat Club 

Association, 36-39. 
Charles River Embankment and 

Dam, 108, 127, 141, 159, 182, 

216, 226. 
Charles River Hotel, Brighton, 84, 

161. 
City Point, South Boston, 151, 

152. 
Clark, F. S., 167. 
Clark, Robert F., 35, 37. 
Clarke, W. B., 161, 167. 
Classification of crews in regattas 

in the 50's, 36. 
Club Day, 154, 155. 
Club house. See Quarters of the 

Club. 
Coaches, rowing, 141. 
Committee on Elections, 95, 96, 

183. 
Concord River, 203, 204. 
Constitution of the Club, 63-66, 

94-100, 106, 179-190, 233. 
Contoocook River, 199. 



329 



330 



INDEX 



Courts, hand-ball and squash, 

208-215. 
Crocker, G. G., 99. 
Cruises, 86-93, 164-168, 190-195. 

See Trips. 
Cup. See Prizes. 
Cushing, H. C, Jr., 139. 
Customs of the Club, old, 53-66. 

Daisy, the, 123. 

Davis, M. F„ 216-219. 

Day, 'Madam,' 59. 

Decoration Day Excursion, 154. 

Dennett, W. S., 167. 

Dinners, annual and anniversary, 

146-149, 151, 234; Fast Day, 

150, 151. 
Directors, Board of, 95, 96, 98. 
Discipline, 12, 13, 114. 
Dolphin Boat Club, 143. 
Dues, 97, 180, 182, 185-187. 

Eaton, W. S., Jr., 135, 154, 161, 

166, 168, 190, 191, 194, 224. 
Edmands, Colonel T. F., 99, 102, 

223-225. 
Election Committee, 95, 96, 183. 
Election of new members, 95, 96, 

180-183. 
Ellis, A. B., 126. 
Entrance fee. See Initiation fee. 
Equipment. See Navy. 
Estabrook, G. W., 97, 101, 216- 

218. 
Eustis, J. J., 165, 167. 
Evadne, the, 74, 86-89, 91, 92. 
Excursions, long, 86-93, 164-168, 

190-195. See Trips. 
Executive Committee, 96, 180, 183. 
Expulsion, 4, 5, 114. 

Fast Day, 53-55; celebrations of, 
by the Club, 55-57, 70, 84, 150- 
154. 



Fay, J. S., Jr., 78, 82. 

Fees, for use of locker, 186. See 

Entrance fee. 
Fenno, E. N, 99. 
Fives. See Hand-ball. 
Flannery, James, 113. 
Fourth of July regattas, 22, 23, 39, 

40, 79-81, 135, 142. 

'Getting the Rafts,' 155-161. 
Glaucus, the, 132, 133. 
Guild, Courtenay, 161. 
Guiteras, Ramon, 191, 192, 194. 
Gymnasium, equipment, 104, 116. 
Gymnastic exercises, 22, 61, 207- 
215. 

Haines, G. A., 167. 

Haines, Mr., Coach, 141. 

Hall, W. S., 165, 167. 

Hand-ball, 108, 109, 208-215. 

Handicaps, 35, 36. 

Harding, H. L., 194. 

Harvard, the Oneida, 20; races 
with, 20, 21, 33, 34, 135-139; 
and Yale race, in 1855, 42, 43; 
recognition of services rendered 
by the Club to, 44; hospitality 
of the Club to, 142-145; con- 
cert given by musical clubs, 145. 

Herald, Boston, quoted, 136-139. 

Higginson, Major H. L., 67. 

Hill, J. E. B., 91, 101. 

History of the Club, 224-226. 

Hodgson, Richard, 176. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 38. 

'Horse Shoe,' 117-119. 

Hospitality of the Club, 23, 39, 40, 
79, 142-145. 

Houghton, I. H., 131. 

Iasigi, J. A., 148. 

Initiation fee, 63, 65, 97, 180, 185- 
187. 



INDEX 



331 



Ipswich River, 205-207. 
7m, the, 133, 134. 

Janitors, 104, 109-114. 

'Kids,' the, 132, 133. 
King, L. S., 71, 74, 80, 82, 91, 92, 
96, 127, 128, 161, 167, 168, 225. 

Labor Day, 139. 

Ladies, entertainment of, by the 
Club, 10, 11, 57, 84-89, 163, 166. 
Lambert, E. W., 92. 
Law-suit, 215-219. 
Lehmann, R. C, 145. 
Lexington House, 9, 10. 
Lieutenants, 180, 187. 
Lovejoy, J. P., 69. 

Magrath, Dr. G. B., 146, 161, 
230. 

Mahnahpeezee, the, 196. 

Maiden River, 167. 

Marguerite, the, 86, 87. 

Martin, A. A., 167. 

McCormick, Alexander, 109-113. 

McCormick, William, 112, 113. 

'McElroy's,' 152. 

Meetings of the Club, 64-66, 98, 
180, 184, 185. 

Membership of the Club, charter, 
1, 2, 4, 5; from 1851 to 1861, 15, 
63-66, 105; in the later '60s, 
73-76, 94-96, 98, 99, 106; since 
1870, 109, 180-183, 234; list of 
members, 224. 

Metropolitan Rowing Association, 
regatta of, 139. 

Miller's River, 199. 

Millstreams, the, of Chelsea, 140. 

Moonlight excursions, 57, 84, 162, 
163. 

'Muckers,' 168-175. 

Murphy, Herman D., 195. 



Nashua River, 203. 

National Association of Amateur 
Oarsmen, 139, 142. 

Navy of the Club, to 1860, 8, 9, 11, 
12, 15, 16, 26-29, 33, 66; in 
1865, 74, 75; in 1870, 106; since 
1873, 122-125, 190-193. 

New Bedford crews, races with, 
30-32. 

New England Amateur Rowing 
Association, 77, 78, 139. 

Officers of the Club, 2, 63-66, 95- 

98, 106, 180, 187. 
'Old Alex.' See McCormick. 
'Old Men,' the, 132, 133. 
Oneida, the, 20. 
O'Reilly, John Boyle, 191, 194. 

Parker, John D., Jr., 29, 41, 79, 82, 

128. 
Parkman, Henry, 146, 222, 226, 

228. 
Parties, 163. 

Patriots' Day, 55, 57, 153. 
Peabody, Francis, Jr., 135, 137. 
Pemigewasset River, 200. 
Point Shirley, 86-89, 118, 161, 162. 
Preston, H. W., 116. 
Prizes, 16, 37, 40, 41, 45, 78, 128, 

129, 130, 135, 140, 148. 
Property, article of constitution 

on, 181. 
'Putting away the Rafts,' 156-161. 

Quarters of the Club, early, 5, 13, 
15, 60-63; in new buildings, in 
'64, 70-72; new, in '70, 101- 
104, 107; furnishings of, 115, 
116; present, 226-233. 

Races, 16, 19-24, 29-52, 78-84, 

128-141, 148. 
Rafts, 114, 155-161. 



332 



INDEX 



Regatta Rules, 130. 
Regattas. See Races. 
Rice, H. B., 99, 102, 223. 
Ripple, the, 16, 26, 32, 133, 134. 
Ripple Boat Club, of New Bedford, 

31. 
Riverside Annex, 219-221. 
Roberts, Stephen, 38. 
Robins, E. B., 82, 91, 93, 94, 101, 

121, 126, 127, 128, 161, 165, 167. 
Rogers, Daniel Webster, 1-4, 62, 

73, 76, 77, 149, 223-225. 
Rogers, Francis, 212. 

Sail-boats, 122. 

Sailing-canoes, 123, 195. See 

Canoes. 
Sargent, F. W., 128, 165. 
Sargent, G. A., 126. 
Scanlan, Thomas, 114. 
Seasons, variations in, 118-122. 
Secretary, office of, 97. 
Selfridge, G. S., 167. 
Seventeenth of June regattas, 81, 

82, 139. 
Shattuck, Dr. F. C, 126. 
Shawmut Rowing Club, 52, 66. 
Shawshine River, 202. 
Shell, single-scull, the Swordfish, 

28, 29; L' Aiguille, 29; four-oar, 

purchased, 33; approaches to, 

38; paper, first appearance of, 

in Boston, 78. 
Simmons, T. EL, 127, 167, 168. 
Single-scull championship races, 

130-132. 
Six-oars, origin of, in Boston, 27, 

28. 
Smith, Melvin S., 41. 
Smokers, 144, 145, 150. 
Squam Encampment. See Anni- 

squam Encampment. 
Squannacook River, 198. 
Squash, 214, 215. 



Stevens, H. A., 148. 
Sturgis, Dr. Russell, 177. 
Sudbury River, 203, 204. 
'Sugar Loaf,' 117. 
Sunday, games on, 187. 
Swimming and swimming-places, 
117-119. 

Taunton River, 201. 
Technology, Institute of, 143, 144. 
Tennis annex, 219-221. 
Tides, variations in, 121. 
Tilden, C. Linzee, 78, 109, 190, 

193. 
Tournaments, hand-ball, 212; 

squash, 214. 
Treasurer, office of, 97. 
Trips, canoeing, 197-207. See 

Excursions. 
Triton, the, 132, 133. 
Triton Boat Club, 24, 36. 
Twilight, the, 74, 75, 89. 
Twilight Rowing Club, 52. 

Uniform, 12, 13, 111, 115. 

Union, the, 8, 9, 11, 14, 27, 75, 123, 
179. 

Union Boat Club Association, 103, 
107, 181, 188-190. 

Union Boat Club of Boston, be- 
ginning, 1-14; name, 2-4; early 
growth, 15-52; and Harvard, 

20, 21, 33, 34, 42-44; spirit of, 

21, 22; hospitality of, 23, 39, 40, 
79, 142-145; friendly interest 
of, in amateur organisations, 24; 
old customs, 53-66; during the 
War, 67-72; transformation 
period, after the War, 73-107; 
since 1870, 108; organised, 231. 
See Constitution; Officers, etc. 

Vincent, Dr. Beth, 146. 
Volant Club, 35, 36, 39. 



INDEX 



333 



War, Civil, the, 67-72. 
Watkins, General, 7, 16, 18, 55. 
Wave, the, 15-18, 61. 
Webster, Daniel, 2, 3. 
Welch, F., 167. 
Whaleboat race, 30-32. 
Whitman, Alfred, Jr., 15, 26, 35, 

37, 38, 62, 149, 223. 
Whitman, Edmund S., 45, 223. 
Whitman, Henry, 40, 223. 



Wilkinson, E. T., 79. 
Williams, C. H., 161. 
Wray, Mr., 141. 

Yale crew, race with the Club, 34; 

and Harvard race, 1855, 42, 

43. 
Young America Boat Club, 24, 26, 

36. 
Y-Y, the, 20, 42-44. 



JUN20 J913 



